FUN
The Argenta Arts District hosts its May Dogtown Throwdown block party, 4-10 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday along North Little Rock’s Main Street between Broadway and Fifth Street.
The Friday night entertainment lineup, starting at 6 p.m., features Roper Romp Happy Hour and a ’70s/’80s Dance Party with DJ Drip Funk; at 7 p.m., Just Cuz performs covers of ’80s,’90s and current hits live on the steps of the Argenta Library, 420 Main St.
On Saturday, animals from the North Little Rock Animal Shelter will be available for adoption, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. From noon-2 p.m., various Argenta restaurants serve up mimosas and champagne specials for a “Sparkling Saturday” toast. At 2 p.m., Four Quarter Bar hosts a crawfish boil. At 5 p.m., Chris “Bucket” Shelton performs acoustic music live outside Blackberry Market. And at 7 p.m., Nik Parr & The Selfless Lovers perform on the main stage next to the Argenta Library.
Admission is free; food and drink cost money. Visit argentaartsdistrict.org or facebook.com/events/2170346899982595.
Library hosts Laman Con
Compete in video game tournaments and board games, test your knowledge in geeky trivia sessions, groove to K-Pop tunes, showcase your cosplay skills in a costume contest and patronize local vendors and artists at the North Little Rock Public Library System’s Laman Con 2024, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock. An experienced cosplayer will provide opportunities to learn about accessible cosplay creation techniques; indie video gaming enthusiasts can dive into independent game development in the Tech Hub and there will be “nerdy” scavenger hunts to uncover hidden treasures throughout the library. The event also offers food trucks, face painting and other family-friendly activities for kids, a screening of Studio Ghibli’s “Howl’s Moving Castle,” a panel featuring local Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters. Admission is free. Find a detailed schedule and additional information at NLRlibrary.org/lamancon.
ART
ASU exhibitions
Three exhibitions of works by Arkansas State University faculty members open today at the Bradbury Art Museum in ASU’s Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro:
◼️ “The Soft Animal of Your Body,” experimental approaches to drawing and painting on themes of motherhood by ASU faculty member Lydia Dildilian.
◼️ “From Cart to Checkout: Affirmations to Get You to Your Next Paycheck Without Crying,” prints by ASU faculty member Cody Scrivner that explore late-stage capitalism through an invented, satirical mega-corporation.
◼️ “Girls with Cameras,” the culmination of a project led by Kim Vickrey and supported by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, focused on cultivating confidence in young women through photography. The participants are northeast Arkansas students who went to campus for a one-day event.
The exhibitions remain up through May 29 with a 5-6:30 p.m. closing reception that day. Admission is free. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Call (870) 972-3434, email mmcmahan@AState.edu or visit BradburyArtMuseum.org.
“The Soft Animal of Your Body,” mixed-media collage and colored pencil by Lydia Dildilian, is part of an exhibition of the same name on display through May 29 at the Bradbury Art Museum at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Artists talk
Area artists will each give a five-minute presentation that highlights their creative practice and artistic journey for Artist INC LIVE: Little Rock WorkShare night, 6-9 p.m. May 21 at the headquarters of Arkansas Heritage, 1100 North St., Little Rock. The artists gathered over eight weeks to explore and develop the professional aspects of their artistic practices. The list includes Cedric Black, April Burris, Rayne Cottrell, Finley Daniel, Rhoda Deon, Lafayette DeRamus, Kie Goldsby, Kendra Hendrix, Tanya Hollifield, Dan Koops, Lo Patt, Susan Prowse, Beth Simpson, Steve Spencer, Shawn Standley, Lucy Towbin, Gabrielle Vernor, Annika Wade, Peggy Wenger and Lynda Williams. The Artist INC program comes through the Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Arkansas Arts Council. Admission is free and includes food and beverages, but it’s a good idea to register in advance, via tinyurl.com/34ntkv2w. For more information, call (501) 324-9348 or email scarlet.sims@arkansas.gov.
AT THE PODIUM
Preservation talk
Kimberly Butt, preservation architect, architectural historian and principal at TreanorHL in San Francisco, will give a talk at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of Preserve Arkansas’ “Women in Preservation” virtual speaker series, via Zoom (register at tinyurl.com/pr3fsz9p) and the organization’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/@preservearkansas1577/streams). “Admission” is free. Support for the series comes from DEMX Architecture.
AUDITIONS
‘Newsies’ at Wildwood
Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, holds auditions for performers of all ethnicities for “Newsies” (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the 1992 Disney film screenplay by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White), by appointment, May 21, with callbacks scheduled for May 23. Auditioners should prepare 16-32 bars of a song (take sheet music for the accompanist); young auditioners should come prepared to move. The show requires strong musical skills and the producers are suggesting auditioners have strong dance experience (3-plus years of dance preferred, tap skills strongly encouraged). Rehearsals start Aug. 18; production dates are Oct. 11-20. Email zach@wildwoodpark.org to schedule an audition time and to request additional information.
TICKETS
‘Imperial’ concert
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and conductor Geoffrey Robson will play John Williams’ score for “Star Wars: ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in Concert” as the movie screens above and behind the players, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18-19 and 3 p.m. Oct. 20 at Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. Season-ticket holders can order tickets now; single tickets — $24-$108 (pricing is subject to change, with a 10% discount for subscribers and concert members) — go on sale in July. Call (501) 666-1761 or visit arkansassymphony.org/season-tickets/.
“Affirmation Bag 2: Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness,” silkscreen by Cody Scrivner, is part of a display of Scrivner’s prints titled “From Cart to Checkout: Affirmations to Get You to Your Next Paycheck Without Crying,” on display through May 29 at the Bradbury Art Museum at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
