Archive for year: 2016
Great strides: WAMA @ Wildwood
As of June 27, the third week of WAMA is in full swing! The first two weeks of the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts were absolutely invigorating, and we’re continuing the momentum! WAMA is showing its capacity to expand – both in size and scope:
In 2016, WAMA supporters made it possible to bring students and interns from across Arkansas to make music together at Wildwood. (Housing was provided in partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.) Young instrumentalists worked intently in full rehearsals with conductor Daniel Black (Ft. Worth Symphony) each day. They shared in master classes with the renowned ensemble WindSync and a variety of side-by-side performances and coachings from the faculty, which included Tatiana Kotcherguina, Ashley Walla, Barry McVinney, and Kiril Laskarov, Concert Master for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
WAMA is living the vision to bring students in both the Instrumental core and the Vocal core together in concert. Under the batons of Daniel Black and Dr. Bevan Keating, WAMA Artistic Director, more than 30 orchestral musicians collaborated with almost as many advanced vocal students to create a spectacular culminating concert, A Summer Schubert Serenade, on June 24th.
The intermediate program is overflowing with instrumentalists and singers eager for training to reach the next level. Music faculty from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, UALR, and local schools are joined by teaching artists who provide such multi-arts electives as yoga, visual arts, culinary classes, creative writing and theatre.
In week three, advanced vocal students shift their focus to the more whimsical side of musical theatre, with equally intensive training by faculty and two internationally-renowned guest artists. Baritone-bass Curtis Sullivan and collaborative pianist, Dr. Kyung-Eun Na, will also perform a concert for the public:
Awake the Beauty
Thursday, June 30 / 7:30 pm
Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival (indoors)
The next afternoon, July 1st at 5 pm, participants in the Advanced Vocal Core will present a culminating concert.
In the weeks following, WILDMusic beginning students will embark upon artistic adventures in African drumming, ukulele classes, visual arts, culinary arts and musical theatre. Each week culminates with a student performance. These emerging young artists, just like the more advanced WAMA students, are developing musically and artistically the skills crucial for self-discipline, collaboration, exploration and creativity. Register your young artist here.
WAMA students are making great strides. Help us continue the momentum. Keep the metronomes going, the paintbrushes vivid, the voices on cue. Thanks to a growing number of funders and patrons just like you, WAMA is pleased to provide world-class faculty members, innovative classes, and a variety of performances and performance opportunities so that hundreds of young people each summer have access the highest standards in music and arts education. Click here to make a donation today to support the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts. Or contact Mary Bea Gross, Development Officer, at 501-821-7275, or via email at marybea@wildwoodpark.org.
With gratitude,
Dr. Bevan Keating, WAMA Artistic Director
Angela Collier, WAMA Curriculum Manager
Leslie Golden, Executive Director
Thank you, Americorps Alpine 6!
Farewell, Alpine 6!
Wildwood has been bustling with improvements January – February of 2016 thanks to nine Americorps team members, led by grounds manager David Pickens, facilities manager Ira Grace, and an elite crew from Central Arkansas Master Naturalists, the Nature Conservancy, Tom Tull Studios and Stageworks. Known as “The A Team” around Wildwood, Alpine 6 of NCCC Americorps’ Southwest Region provided more than 4500 hours of volunteer service to improve the Park and its amenities.
Here’s a condensed list of what Team Leader Brian Wegner, along with Haley, Maddy, Charles, Patrick, Tayla, Perry, Jessica and Waldemar accomplished:
- Trailblazed the Wild 40, the Nature Trail, and the Ruth Allen Dogwood Trail
- Landscaped park areas and refurbished multiple flowerbeds throughout the Butler Arboretum
- Recovered 100+ lobby chairs
- Built a new bridge and created a new rock dry bed for the Nabucco Waterfall in the Asian Woodland Garden
- Attained Level A chainsaw status
- Removed thousands of pounds of tree debris from Denny Road and the Wildflower Glen
- Provided support for Wildwood’s Jr. Naturalist Camp
- Inventoried properties and scenery and, outdoors, indigenous plantings throughout the Park
- Painted the concessions stand and several restrooms
- Built a volcano and decor for LANTERNS! Festival, and hosted more than 8000 guests with 350 volunteers
Thank you, A Team, for being part of Team Wildwood – may our paths meet again!
Grow the Love on April 7, 2016
Between 8 AM and 8 PM on Thursday, April 7, you can change Wildwood Park for the Arts and Arkansas for the better.
ArkansasGives is a 12-hour statewide online giving event sponsored by Arkansas Community Foundation. Visit ArkansasGives.org between 8 AM and 8 PM on Thursday, April 7, and select Wildwood Park for the Arts in the drop down menu.
And make your dollars count even more! On ArkansasGives Day, each nonprofit is eligible to qualify for additional dollars through a matching pool of funds from Arkansas Community Foundation. All participating nonprofits will receive a portion of the matching pool. The more a nonprofit raises, the more bonus dollars it will receive. Even small nonprofits receive matching funds!
We’ll make it really easy for you! Let us help you help Wildwood! With your permission, Wildwood will make a courtesy call or email a personal reminder to you on April 7th. Simply contact Mary Bea Gross, Wildwood’s development officer, at marybea@wildwoodpark.org.
As an extra incentive, by making a gift to Wildwood Park for the Arts during this 12-hour giving period, your impact will be DOUBLED thanks to a generous matching gift from a Wildwood supporter. When you choose to give to Wildwood Park, your gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000, on this special day of giving.
Take a few minutes to give to Wildwood Park for the Arts on ArkansasGives Day April 7th! Your contribution will be matched by our supporter, and Wildwood will receive Arkansas Community Foundation funds as well – a perfect trifecta of giving!
When you give on ArkansasGives Day, you are joining a statewide celebration of giving and can help Wildwood raise even more dollars to support the Park’s mission to enrich the lives of Arkansans of all ages by creating community through nature and the arts.
Join us in supporting Wildwood Park for the Arts on ArkansasGives Day April 7th. Together we can make a difference!
ArkansasGives donations are online only through the ArkansasGives website, credit card only, for 12 hours only on April 7th, and in a minimum donation level of $25 (no maximum).
LANTERNS! 2016 Lights Up the Night
Wildwood’s annual deep-winter festival celebrates the first full moon of the lunar new year. Held over three magical evenings – February 19 – 21, 2016 – guests are transported to far away lands and times as they stroll through the beautifully lit pathways of Wildwood’s gardens. Cultural vistas feature live entertainment, food, drink, games and more throughout the Park’s Butler Arboretum and inside the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre. Find out more information about LANTERNS! here.
Shuttles run from the Kroger on Chenal Parkway beginning at 6 pm nightly until 30 minutes past the Festival’s closing. Limited parking is also available at Wildwood.
Tickets are $8 for adults online and $10 at the gate. For children ages 6-12 tickets are $4 online and $5 at the gate, and children 5 and under attend FREE! LANTERNS! Let’s get glowing! Click here and then on the time of your chosen night to PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS TODAY!
Click here if you are interested in becoming a WILDVolunteer for this exciting festival!
LANTERNS! is made possible by the support of these illuminating sponsors:
