ENTERTAINMENT Jay Jennings wins 2023 Porter Prize; fall ceremony set
Jay Jennings is the winner of the $5,000 2023 Porter Fund Literary Prize, which goes each year to an Arkansas writer “with a substantial and impressive body of work that merits enhanced recognition,” according to a news release. Jennings will be honored at a special award ceremony in October.
Novelist Jack Butler and novelist and lawyer Phil McMath founded the prize in 1984 to honor Ben Kimpel, an English professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; at Kimpel’s request, the prize is named for Kimpel’s mother, Gladys Crane Kimpel Porter. Recipients include 38 poets, novelists, nonfiction writers and playwrights, including Mara Leveritt, Morris Arnold, Kevin Brockmeier and former Arkansas Poet Laureate Jo McDougall.
Jennings, a Little Rock native, worked for two decades in New York as a writer and editor for magazines, including Sports Illustrated, Tennis, Time Out New York and Artforum, and The New York Times. His 2010 book “Carry the Rock: Race, Football, and the Soul of an American City” is about the Little Rock Central High School football team 50 years after the 1957 desegregation crisis and was reissued earlier this year by the University of Arkansas Press in a revised edition, including a new preface by the author.
Jennings has also published humor, journalism, memoir, book reviews and other writing in national newspapers, magazines and literary journals, including the New York Times Book Review, Travel & Leisure, Vogue, Gravy, the Lowbrow Reader, and the Oxford American, where he was an editor from 2015-21. His most recent editing project is “Charles Portis: Collected Works.” He lives with his wife and daughter in Little Rock.
DANCE
Ballet auditions Ballet Arkansas is holding community-cast auditions for dancers age 6 and up for three of its 202324 season ballets. Audition and registration details are available at balletarkansas. org/community-cast:
■ Aug. 18-19: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Spectacular,” for youngsters 6 and up and adults, Shuffles & Ballet II, 1520 Merrill Drive, Little Rock. Performances are Dec. 8-10 at Little Rock’s Robinson Center. Register ($30 fee) by Aug. 17.
■ Aug. 20: Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” for children 9 and older, Shuffles & Ballet II. Performances Feb. 16-18 at Robinson Center Performance Hall. Register ($30 fee) by Aug. 17.
■ Aug. 26: “Wonderland: Alice’s Epic Adventure,” for children 10 and older, Ballet Arkansas studios, 520 Main St., Little Rock. Performances are Oct. 12-15 at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College’s Center for Humanities and Arts Theater in North Little Rock. Register ($30 fee) by Aug. 25.
Ballet Arkansas’ School for Dance is expanding its dance education programs for children and adults in two semesters — a 12-week fall session beginning Aug. 28 and a 16-week spring session, beginning Jan. 8, at the company’s studios, 520 Main St. Dancers enrolled in the spring session will perform in a showcase May 11 at the UA-PTC CHARTS Theater. Visit balletarkansas.org/enrolledclasses.
ETC. Awards nominations
Sept. 15 is the deadline to submit nominations to the Arkansas Arts Council for the 2024 Governor’s Arts Awards, which recognize individuals, organizations and businesses for their outstanding contributions to the arts in Arkansas. The award recipients will be honored at a ceremony in the spring.
Nominations are open in these categories: Arts Community Development, Arts in Education, Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts, Folklife, Individual Artist, Patron and Lifetime Achievement. Nominees must be current Arkansas residents or Arkansas-based corporations or organizations. Outstanding artists, arts patrons, corporate sponsors, arts education coordinators and local leaders in arts development are all eligible to apply. Make nominations at tinyurl.com/yzjfvz3x or email cheri.leffew@arkansas.gov.