Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
That’s The Whole Pointe
WAC season reaches every corner of community
When it comes time to build each new season at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, staff and organizers have to factor in so much more than artist availability, explains programming director Jennifer Ross. Are the performers artistically relevant? Are they wonderfully talented? Do they tell the right story? And, most importantly, do they speak to and are they inclusive of the Northwest Arkansas audience?
The resulting eight series — in addition to the Broadway season — bring entertainment from all over the world to Fayetteville to captivate guests of all ages. Here, Ross and some of her coworkers look excitedly toward the coming year as they break down the full 2019-20 season. Several ticket packages for individual series are available for purchase already at 443-5600 or waltonartscenter.org. Create-your-own subscriptions begin Aug. 6, and individual tickets for most performances go on sale Aug. 9. But keep an eye out, as Ross promises a few more shows are likely to land on the season lineup before the autumn leaves fall.
Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield Family Fun Series
SEPT. 10-19 — Blue Man Group: “Speechless”
DEC. 22 — So NA: “The Snowman: A Family Concert”
FEB. 25 — The Peking Acrobats
MARCH 7, 14, 21 — Trike Theatre: “Sideways Stories From Wayside School”
“One thing that’s great about working with Trike Theatre is, not only are we able to offer those performances as part of our public offering, we also offer those for our classroom series,” Laura Goodwin, WAC vice president of learning and engagement, says of the venue’s artistic affiliate. “So, kids will be coming with their schoolmates and talking about those big life questions, or coming with their families.”
10x10 Arts Series
“This year, 10x10 as a whole, it’s a tour of the world,” Ross begins proudly. “Tiempo Libre is Cuban-based; Nobuntu is African; Theatre Re is a theater company from England; Piano Battle [comes from Germany]; Ballet Memphis is not from Arkansas; Apollo’s Fire are from Cleveland, Ohio; Socks in the Frying Pan is an Irish company; The Real Group is Swedish; and then ‘Äbhä’ is from an Indian company that’s coming. And then we have the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, which is a mishmash of [artists] from all over the world!”
OCT. 3 — Tiempo Libre
OCT. 11 — Nobuntu
NOV. 5 — Theatre Re’s “The Nature of Forgetting”
JAN. 30 — “Piano Battle”
FEB. 6 — Ballet Memphis “Contemporaryx3”
FEB. 29 — Apollo’s Fire - Baroque Orchestra “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Rediscovered”
MARCH 5 — Socks in the Frying Pan APRIL 3 — The Real Group
APRIL 21 — “Äbhä” by Parshwanath Upadhye and Punyah Dance Company MAY 6 — Artosphere Festival Orchestra 10x10 Concert
West Street Live Series
“I’m curating to people who really love music and songwriting for the songwriting and for the interpretation of the music,” Ross muses on the series that’s particularly close to her heart. “What I hear a lot from the people who come to West Street Live is, ‘I’ve never heard of this person before, but now that I’ve come and heard them, I’m going to listen to them more.’ And so that crowd is there because they love music, and they’re being introduced to more and different music than they’ve heard before.”
“It’s less dependent on the genre,” adds Scott Galbraith, executive producer and vice president of programming. “Folk is certainly a significant part of it, but both the writers and the listeners of West Street Live are so keyed into the lyric. They’re really interested in the storytelling, in the personal expression. And more than a lot of contemporary music, which may be more rhythmically oriented or [about] instrumentation, this is about a human voice and the storytelling.”