Water will be the focus of a weeklong festival in October coordinated by the Conway Alliance for the Arts, the University of Central Arkansas and Conway EcoFest.
Conway Eco + Arts Fest 2018 combines Conway ArtsFest, which has been the signature event of CAFTA for several years, and Conway EcoFest, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The event will include a series of activities aimed at raising awareness about the importance of water and the community’s reliance on this natural resource. The festival, scheduled for Oct. 1-6, will culminate with three signature events.
“The marriage of these two organizations was perfect timing,” said Gayle Seymour, associate dean of the UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication and co-chairwoman of ArtsFest with Jennifer Deering.
“Joining forces this year will benefit both our organizations,” said Deering, UCA grant writer and.
“We have a unified theme — water. We have partnered with various groups to discuss the issue of water — lack of, too much of, conservation, pollution. … Faulkner County is in an endangered watershed because of contaminates. A UCA grad student is going around now taking samples of water to identify these contaminates and to help figure out what can be done. This is a big issue,” Deering said.
“EcoFest is thrilled to collaborate with ArtsFest to help educate people on the importance of not only water conservation and protection, but of social consciousness as well,” said Treci Buchanan, director of Conway EcoFest.
Audra Russell, event planner for EcoFest, said she has been talking with civic organizations, especially about water conservation.
“We have issued an eco-challenge,” she said. “Take a shower only as long as a song … no longer than five minutes. That is one way to conserve water.”
Seymour said the event’s organizers hope to address social-justice issues.
“Water is not a neutral subject, and it is not free. Not everyone has the same access to it. Think about those who are homeless — they are preoccupied with water,” Seymour said.
“In talking with members of the Conway Police Department, the No. 1 concern of homeless people is water,” Deering said. “You can say, ‘Go get a job,’ but how can you go try to find a job if you have no place to take a shower?”
In conjunction with Conway Eco + Arts Fest 2018, the UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication has received grant funding for a project titled The Water About Us, which is a nod to National Geographic’s documentary The Story of Us. Produced by Seymour and Deering, the project will include the production of an underwater concert and dance performance, Aqurld Waves at The Water About Us, which is the first of the festival’s three signature events and is site-specific to Conway.
The performance will feature the percussion group HEARding Cats Collective of St. Louis, Missouri, which has developed instruments meant to be played and heard underwater, and movement artists Core Dance of Atlanta, Georgia, who will perform both poolside and in the water at UCA’s HPER Center.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime production that invites the public to actually participate in the performance,” Seymour said. “No one will want to miss it.”
Audience members can choose to sit poolside or float in the water along with the collaborating artists.
Seymour said the intent of this performance is to help people connect to water “in a deeply personal way in the hope that their emotional responses to it will influence how they think about this precious resource and how they behave around it.”
Performances will be at 7, 7:45 and 8:30 p.m. Oct. 4 and Oct. 6 at the UCA HPER Center swimming pool. The concert is free and open to the public; however, reservations are required. To reserve free, timed tickets, visit the website tinyurl.com/ydz8y9ga.
For the second signature event of the festival, UCA has contracted with internationally renowned visual artists Maya Gelfman and Roie Avidan to work with community volunteers, from elementary to college students and beyond, to construct the Wishing Well installation in Laurel Park as part of their Mind the Heart! project, begun in 2011 in their home city, Tel Aviv.
During the first week in October, using yarn, which is their signature medium, Gelfman and Avidan will work with Conway residents in workshops at schools, senior centers and libraries in winding blue yarn around hundreds of small Styrofoam balls. They will then use these balls to create two artworks — a site-specific installation about water awareness at Conway Eco + Arts Fest in Laurel Park on Oct. 6 and then, recycling the same balls, a permanent ceiling mural in the UCA Office of Community and Diversity.
“Much like the quilting bees of the colonial era, Gelfman and Avidan’s ball-wrapping workshops will bring together individuals from all lifestyles for conversations about water and mindfulness,” Seymour said. “Our intent is to help people understand and connect to water and to one another.”
Seymour said The Water About Us project is funded, in part, by a grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance (Regional Touring Program), an agency of the National Endowment for the Arts serving Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, and by a grant from the Arkansas Arts Council (Collaborative Support Program), an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The third signature event of the festival is a day of activities at Laurel Park, 2310 Robinson Ave. The event, Conway Eco + Arts Fest 2018, The World and the Water About Us, is planned for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 6.
Also free and open to the public, this event will feature hands-on artistic and educational opportunities, demonstrations, exhibits, performances, storytelling opportunities and vendors.
In addition to ArtsFest events, Conway EcoFest will highlight Stormy the Fish: Stormwater Program to display how local action can make a global impact with respect to conservation and education about water.
The week of activities will conclude with Light Up the Night, set for 6-10 p.m. Oct. 6
at Kings Live Music, 1020 Front St. The event will feature live music, art exhibits and hands-on activities coordinated by the Scrap Exchange, a reuse program in Durham, North
Carolina, that promotes “creativity, environmental awareness and community through reuse.” This event is free and sponsored by Engagement Management and Kings Live Music.
For a complete listing of events scheduled for the festival, visit conwayecofest.com, artsinconway.org or uca.edu/cfac/water-about-us.