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Young at Art: A Selection of Caldecott Book Illustrations

Wildwood Park for the Arts’ Art in the Park exhibition program welcomes Young at Art:  A Selection of Caldecott Book Illustrations to The Galleries at Wildwood. The exhibit features original art from such books as Chris Van Allsburg’s Polar Express and Jumanji, Leonard Weisgard’s Mother Hen, Elizabeth O. Jones’ Prayer for a Child, Maurice Sendak’s Memoirs of a Mouse, Arnold Lobel’s Frog & Toad All Year, and Paul Goble’s The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses. Wildwood is the exhibit’s first stop on a twelve-state tour. Curated by Danny Bills, curator of collections and exhibitions at Wichita Falls Museum of Art, and organized by Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University, Young at Art is part of ExhibitsUSA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance.

To see more, click here.

May 15 – June 17, 2018

Gallery Hours:

Monday-Friday: 10 am – 4 pm

Saturday & Sunday: 12  – 4 pm

Free Admission

The Galleries at Wildwood

Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre Complex

20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, AR

The Fourth Wall Stretches Boundaries

To complete the WAMA Summer Music Festival 2017, the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts welcomes The Fourth Wall Ensemble.

This award-winning hybrid arts group turned the fruits of their conservatory studies at Interlochen, Oberlin, Eastman, and Peabody into hysterical, high-energy performances. From Alaska to Arkansas, and points beyond and in between, the fresh-as-ever Fourth Wall stretches the boundaries of instrumental performance to make music that leaps off the stage – literally.

In a virtual fruit salad of sophisticated fun, The Fourth Wall Ensemble mixes together music, theatre and dance in 75 whirlwind minutes. As they say, “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”

You can’t miss a trio reviewers have called magical, mesmerizing and masterful in both movement and musicianship. Huh-uh. You gotta get tickets – right here, right now, before the banana splits.

“Serious music by seriously talented musicians in a show that doesn’t take itself seriously at all.”

 
Thursday, July 13
7:30 pm
Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre

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This concert is brought to you in part by Nancy & Warren Boop.
All proceeds support WAMA scholarships.
(Arrive early for a stroll through the Park to enjoy Swan Lake, the Butler Arboretum, and the Nabucco Waterfall in the Asian Woodland Garden.)

Arkansas’ Premier FEASTival

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Wildwood Park for the Arts’ 19th Annual Wine & Food FEASTival Supports Arts Education

Feed your soul with stimulating libations and artful edibles created by some of central Arkansas’ finest chefs and restaurants when Wildwood Park for the Arts hosts its 19th Annual Wine & Food FEASTival from 6:30 – 9 pm on Friday, April 21, 2017. The event is held throughout the Park’s Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre complex at 20919 Denny Road in west Little Rock. Chaired by Vivian & David Norman, FEASTival supports the Park’s programs, including the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts (WAMA).

With support from Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, more than 100 wines and several spirits will be available for tasting and pairing with a feast of portions from local restaurateurs. Diamond Bear Brewing and Stone’s Throw Brewing will join the party for sampling beers crafted in central Arkansas.

Participating restaurants include:  Bistro in Bryant, Blue Cake Company, Bonefish Grill, Boulevard Bread Company, Bravo! Cucina Italiana, Capital Hotel, Chenal Country Club, Cocoa Belle Chocolates, Lulu’s Latin Rotisserie & Grill, Nothing Bundt Cakes, SO Restaurant & Bar, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, and Trio’s Restaurant.

Dizzy 7 will perform live dance music throughout the evening, and Arkansas Circus Arts will provide additional entertainment. A cork pull, raffle, and silent auction will round out the evening’s activities.

Parking is available inside the gates at Wildwood Park, and Mercedes-Benz of Little Rock will provide express service from Denny Road parking to the doors of Cabe Festival Theatre.

Tickets are $65 per person until 11:59 pm on Monday, April 17, tickets are $75 at midnight April 18th – April 21st. Tickets and more information are available at www.wildwoodpark.org and through Wildwood’s box office (20919 Denny Road, Little Rock) on weekdays through the evening of the FEASTival. To purchase by phone, contact Wildwood Park for the Arts at (501) 821-7275.

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

LANTERNS! 2016 Lights Up the Night

Lanterns2016SliderWildwood’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: