Community arts group sets multicultural festival
The nonprofit Roots Art Connection has assigned itself a daunting task.
With a mission of advocating for “the integration of arts in education and community,” the North Little Rock-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit looks to help transform and develop underserved communities. In the past, this has meant youth poetry workshops, painting public murals and other outreach programs. The nonprofit also is renovating a blighted Little Rock property that will one day house artists who will revitalize the neighborhood through their artwork.
On Saturday, the nonprofit presents a new angle to its mission by hosting its first community festival, Colors of Love: Art & Multicultural Festival in North Little Rock. The free event is 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Argenta Plaza, Main and Sixth streets.
Chris James, the 26-yearold founder and executive director of the nonprofit, says the goal of the festival is “to exemplify what diversity looks like” in central Arkansas through music, food and art.
“This festival is all about getting different types of people together so we can start building different types of community and not segregating communities,” James says. “If we can all listen to music together and eat together and laugh together, we can learn to get along like family, and not like strangers.”
Many festivals have only one theme, one type of music or a limited variety of food, James says. By contrast, Saturday’s festival will feature entertainment from the likes of local hip-hop dance company Born Artistically Bold and American Indian performer Steven Scissortail.
The festival’s musical performances will span genres from reggae and hip-hop to acoustic guitar and rock, with artists such as Neff & Friends, Vincent Von Vega, Josh Green and Bad Boyfriends.
James, a spoken-word artist, is looking forward to an open mic session in which spoken-word poets are invited to perform in three-to-five minute segments.
Food truck cuisine will be offered by Katmandu Momo, Agrilla the Bun and Philly Phresh, along with beer from local brewers Lost Forty Brewing, Diamond Bear Brewing Co. and Flyway Brewing.
A diverse group of vendors includes 22nd Element, a maker of urban fashions, and Little Rock-based Rhinodillo Designs, selling artwork, apparel and other products.
Started in 2010 and officially titled Roots Art Connection in 2013, the nonprofit is housed on Fourth Street in North Little Rock’s Argenta District, around the corner from Argenta Drug Co. Its headquarters, called The House of Art, hosts open mic nights every Friday for local singers, comics, poets and others. The work of local artists hangs on the walls.
Saturday’s festival, which has been in the works for a year, is the latest arts-centric effort by the Roots Art Connection to spur positive change in the Little Rock and North Little Rock communities.
The organization kicked off The Mural Project in November when Atlanta artist Angela Davis Johnson coordinated the painting of the backside of the nonprofit’s headquarters. Local artist Jose Hernandez recently oversaw the painting of a second mural at the Hamilton Boys & Girls Club in North Little Rock.
In February, the nonprofit bought a rundown house on West 21st Street, southwest of downtown Little Rock, with plans to remake it into inexpensive housing for artists. In exchange, the artists are expected to provide art education in the neighborhood and beautify the community.
Renovations on the house started in March. James says the ongoing work is “at a halfway point,” with the latest task completed being the installation of electrical wiring.