A picture may be worth 1,000 words. What then, is the value of an entire arts festival?
The ACANSA Arts Festival, in its second year, certainly has a dollars and cents figure attached to it after a successful first time out last year, but in terms of exposure for the state and its impact on the economies of Little Rock and North Little Rock, the event takes on an even greater value.
Scheduled for Sept. 16-20, the festival offers a range of visual and performing arts as well as receptions and learning opportunities at multiple venues on both sides of the river. The cultural opportunity speaks for itself, but ACANSA is also a chance for the neighboring, central Arkansas cities to showcase new developments, enjoy an economic boost and possibly attract new residents who have something substantial to contribute within the local workforce.
“Communities that invest in the arts reap the additional benefit of jobs, economic growth and a quality of life that positions those cities to compete in our 21st century creative economy,” North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith says.
Such is the value of the festival and the unifying power of the arts that Little Rock and North Little Rock, perhaps seen in some cases as competitors, happily line up to throw open their doors in a combined event like ACANSA.
We’re all great partners in this,” Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola says. “There’s no real competitions where it relates to arts and culture.”
To both mayors, as well as festival organizers, a thriving arts culture speaks to a healthy local community, sending a message to visitors of progress, forward-thinking and growth.
“Right now, cities around the world are competing to attract new businesses as well as our brightest young professionals,” Smith says. “The winners will be communities that offer an abundance of art and culture opportunities.”
Arts And Innovation
Before the state was settled, native American tribes referred to the territory’s Quapaw people as “Acansa,” meaning “people of the southern place.” And so the ACANSA Arts Festival is southern people showing off their southern place.
“We want audiences to be amused, entertained and inspired through our efforts to [be] a permanent cultural institution and establish Arkansas as the next great arts and culture destination in the U.S.,” says Linda Newbern, ACANSA’s associate director of programming.
Festival founder Charlotte Gadberry was inspired by a 2012 visit to the famed Spoleto Arts Festival in Charleston, South Carolina., an event Stodola has also attended. She enlisted the help of both city mayors and arts leaders in both communities, pulling together last year’s inaugural event which by any measure, including the bottom line, was a success.
Profitable in its first year, not always the case with startup festivals, the 2014 ACANSA Arts Festival made $500,000 in overall revenues, Gadberry says, allowing organizers to reinvest $60,000 in this year’s event.
“This allows us to closer align our goals of providing affordable, cutting edge, visual and performing arts to underserved audiences,” Gadberry says, “while generating opportunities for local commerce in Little Rock, North Little Rock and throughout central Arkansas.”
In its own words, ACANSA collaborates with major art entities (the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, The Arkansas Arts Center, Argenta Theater, Ballet Arkansas and more ), it enlightens residents, highlights local and emerging artists, educates audiences and impacts economic development.
“We want to celebrate what’s already here, so The Rep, the Arts Center and the Symphony are what we call our anchor organizations,” associate director of promotions Lisa Brannum says. “The Argenta Theater and the two ballet organizations.”
Smith and Stodola agree that art goes hand-in-hand with creativity and innovation. When the two mayors discuss ACANSA, they look beyond the festival’s exhibits and popular Gospel Brunch events and see people energized for the long run by a sense of community that such festivals encourage.
“What’s good for Little Rock is good for North Little Rock,” Smith says. “I think more and more central Arkansas is understanding the regional effect of economics. … Whether they spend the night on the north side or the south side or they eat on the north side or the south side it’s good for all of us.”
Smith points out it’s not really a coincidence that North Little Rock’s Innovation Hub is in the city’s Argenta Arts District. Stodola says the arts are a natural fit in downtown Little Rock, where the Creative Corridor is taking shape along a revitalized Main Street and the offices of Little Rock’s Technology Park are just a brush stroke away.
The Arkansas River may separate the two communities, but when it comes to the arts and its benefits, there’s no boundary.
“You’ve got it on both sides of the river. … I think it creates a tremendous collective synergy for the state,” Stodola says of the mingling of art and innovation.
On Tap
The Wednesday night opening of the ACANSA Arts Festival, complete with ribbon cutting, will actually be the first major public art event held in Little Rock’s Creative Corridor. But there are a number of notable events throughout the five days.
While Brannum naturally touts every event as something special, she says some of the “must-see” happenings include the Children’s Public Art Project, in which Fayetteville artist Alice McKee will lead children in developing a work of art at Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock. By being collaborative, affordable (that is, free), accessible and educational, the event sums up what ACANSA is all about, Brannum says.
Brannum says there will be 22 performances or exhibits at 15 different locations. The festival seeks a mix of local talent as well as trying to bring in groups that area residents might not ordinarily get to see.
She says the Gospel Brunch, which will feature the award-winning Saint Mark Baptist Choir, has turned out to be very popular. Performances will include PUSH Physical Theatre and the Urban Bush Women and Puppets, Music and Dance, another child-friendly event with free admission.
Visual arts events include the Alonzo Ford Reception, celebrating the state native’s depictions of mid-century rural life in Arkansas; the first pop-up ACANSA Gallery and the Angela Davis Johnson exhibit displaying her narrative paintings.
Performances by the jazz group The Hot Sardines and a cappella group The Exchange are included in this year’s performing arts lineup.
Tickets for individual events are available at AcansaArtsFestival.org and festival goers can also purchase gold and silver level passes. There is an “extra access” option, Brannum says, that allows people to get a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process.
“We don’t want the arts to be perceived as stuffy in any way,” she says.
For Brannum, making the arts affordable and accessible to everyday people were the keys to getting her involved.
“To get to see a play for $30 or to go to a gospel brunch for $35 you give them something that’s so much more valuable by giving them an experience they might not have otherwise,” she says.
Walking Tall
Last year’s ACANSA Arts Festival drew more than, 2,200. Naturally all parties involved hope this year’s festival goers might linger for a day or two and drop a little additional money into local coffers.
“Festival visitors not only spend money on events themselves but eat at local restaurants, stay in hotels and shop in our stores,” says ACANSA executive director Kate Quinlan-Laird.
With North Little Rock’s Argenta district and, in Little Rock, the River Market and reemerging Main Street, the cities have what any good festival needs — the element of walkability.
“Our entertainment district and our arts district is growing,” Smith says, touting two recently opened restaurants in North Little Rock, new living space and the nearby ballfield Dickey-Stephens Park among the city’s features that are within walking distance of festival events.
“ACANSA is a regional festival and provides yet another opportunity for visitors to plan a vacation to central Arkansas,” Smith says.
Both mayors said their jobs, among other things, involve creating an atmosphere that attracts the educated and the employable, not just for vacation but permanently. A thriving arts community dovetails with a creative workforce, Stodola says.
“You get creative people up and down the street sharing a cup of coffee,” he says.
Quality of life, an urban setting that features a number of bars, galleries, shops, restaurants, sports and other events — like arts festivals — all within walking distance helps add to the attraction.
Members of today’s workforce, especially younger people, are seeking such things when choosing a job and a home, the mayors say.
“What I want them to feel is that as a community we understand they have options on where they can live,” Smith says. “When I was graduating college it was find a job and move there. Today it’s find out where you want to live, then find a job there.”
Based on last year’s success and the collaborative efforts going into this year’s festival, it’s clear that ACANSA will be part of central Arkansas’ best-foot-forward approach for years to come.
“It will only continue to grow and mature,” Stodola says.