Arts updates, high praise and more of the news worth noting in local nonprofits.
The Stage is Set
Big changes are coming for NLR audiences on Main Street. The Argenta Community Theater recently announced a slew of changes and updates in the works, including a new name: the Argenta Contemporary Theatre. The organization also released its 15th anniversary season and plans to become a “semi-professional” theater with actor stipends, as well as new partnerships, seating options and staff.
“This is the right moment for this change,” co-founder Vincent Insalaco says, “and I couldn’t be more proud of where we are and where Argenta Contemporary Theatre is headed.”
Learn more at argentacontemporarytheatre.org.
In other future-focused news:
• Easterseals Arkansas hosted a ribbon cutting and open house to celebrate its new Roommate Housing Program designed to empower adults with disabilities by “truly incorporating them into the community and living life more on their terms.” The event took place at the nonprofit’s first partner apartment community, the Palisades at Chenal, where Easterseals roommates currently occupy three apartments.
• The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas & North Louisiana will be extending services for the Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock. According to CEO Janell Mason, it will be the first Ronald McDonald House built inside a hospital in central Arkansas to exclusively serve NICU families.
Gifts, Grants & High Praise
• SoMa 501 received a $10,000 grant from the Simons Foundation as part of Main Street America’s In the Path of Totality Initiative. The grant will help fund SoMa in the Dark, a block party and science market centered around the April 8 eclipse.
• The Baptist Health Foundation received a $50,000 donation from Jeanne and Bob Fitzgerald in honor of their son, Dr. Ryan Fitzgerald, who is the recipient of a heart transplant.
• The Memorial Foundation, which is dedicated to furthering the tenets of Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings, has selected Little Rock’s Raymond Long to be a member of its 2024 Social Justice Fellows Program. Long is one of 50 nationwide chosen by the D.C.-based nonprofit to participate in the virtual eight-week curriculum focused on advocacy, community organizing and public policy.
Big Moves
• Errin Stanger has stepped down as director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub after 10 years with the organization.
• Methodist Family Health Foundation brought on Angela Stroud as director of development and Lindsey Simmons as foundation director of communications, as well as added S. Lee Rush to its board of directors.
• Goodness Village added Robert “Bob” Paine and Aurthur Smith to its board of directors.
• Shana Chaplin has been hired as chief program officer of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.
• At the Arkansas Cinema Society, Ashtyn Marshell has been added as the education program manager, Ginny Blankenship as a grant writer and Lillie Peterson serves as consulting director of operations.
• Sherice Smith has been hired as program manager for Disability Rights Arkansas.
• Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families added Hayley Cormican as its new health associate and Pete Gess as economic policy director.