Dale Erquiaga – Communities In Schools
Monday, November 4 at 6 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
Communities in Schools (CIS) is a national organization that ensures all students have what they need to stay in school and on a path to a brighter future. Founded more than 40 years ago, Communities In Schools today works directly inside more than 2,500 school and community sites across 26 states and the District of Columbia. Every year, CIS connects 1.6 million students to caring adults and community resources designed to empower them to succeed in school and life.
Among students who receive the most intensive supports, 99% stay in school; 93% are promoted to the next grade and 91% graduate. While CIS does not currently have a presence in Arkansas, it has a large affiliate presence throughout the Southeast, Gulf South and Midwest including in the surrounding states of Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. In states where Communities In Schools does not currently operate, it is actively offering different opportunities to school districts and community based organizations to partner on professional training or delivery of its evidence-based model of integrated student supports.
A Discussion on Arkansas Composers William Grant Still and Florence Price
Wednesday, November 6 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
*In partnership with Arkansas Symphony Orchestra
In advance of the Beethoven & Blue Jeans concert, join conductor Andrew Grams and Linda Holzer, professor of music at University of Arkansas at Little Rock, on a discussion about the music of Arkansas composers William Grant Still and Florence Price.
American conductor Andrew Grams has steadily built a reputation for his dynamic concerts, ability to connect with audiences, and long-term orchestra building. He’s the winner of 2015 Conductor of the Year from the Illinois Council of Orchestras and has led orchestras throughout the United States including the Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and the Houston Symphony. Now in his 7th ESO season, Andrew Grams became music director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra after an international search.
Harry Thomason – “Brother Dog: Southern Tales & Hollywood Adventures”
Sunday, November 10 at 3 p.m. (Sturgis Hall)
*Book signing to follow
*In partnership with Clinton Foundation and Central Arkansas Library System
Film and TV-movie producer Harry Thomason has worked with Burt Reynolds, Hal Holbrook, Gregory Peck, and Billy Bob Thornton, among others. His self-effacing stories– both humorous and poignant – are told as only a true raconteur can tell them. Thomason lives in Los Angeles with his wife, creator/writer Linda Bloodworth Thomason (Designing Women, Evening Shade, Heart’s Afire).
A humor-laced episodic memoir, “Brother Dog” is the story of a working-class childhood in the rural South during the 1950s and 60s, striving to become a filmmaker on an ever-expanding stage, helping elect a friend to the presidency, and anecdotal encounters with Chuck Berry, Prime Minister Tony Blair and other luminaries, all rich in imagery, grit, and humor.
Bank On Arkansas+ One Year Later
Wednesday, November 13 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
Join us to experience what Bank On Arkansas+ has accomplished in just one short year. Bank On Arkansas+ partners believe all Arkansans should have access to safe, trusted, and affordable banking so they have the opportunity to save for themselves, build wealth for their families, and improve quality of life in their communities. Over the last year, they have empowered residents statewide to earn, keep, and save to transform the future of lives and communities.
South Words: Van Jensen and Nate Powell
Tuesday, November 19 at 6:30 p.m. (Ron Robinson Theater)
*In partnership with Oxford American
The second installment of Oxford American’s 2019-2020 South Words readers series features Van Jensen and Nate Powell, author and illustrator of Two Dead, moderated by OA senior editor and author of Carry the Rock, Jay Jennings.
Van Jensen, a former crime reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is a graphic novel writer who has written for the “Pinocchio” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series and DC Comics. Nate Powell is an illustrator who worked on the No. 1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel trilogy “March,” for which he became the first cartoonist ever to win the National Book Award.
His work also includes “You Don’t Say,” “Any Empire,” “Swallow Me Whole,” “The Silence of Our Friends,” “The Year of the Beasts,” and Rick Riordan’s “The Lost Hero” and he has received a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, three Eisner Awards, two Ignatz Awards, two Harvey Awards, the Michael L. Printz Award, a Coretta Scott King Author Award, four YALSA Great Graphic Novels For Teens selections, and the Walter Dean Myers Award.
A Panel Discussion of Innovative Solutions to the Central American Migration and Economic Development Crises
Monday, November 25 at Noon (Sturgis Hall)
This panel will include Congressman Rick Crawford who serves on the House Intelligence Committee and has a strong interest in solutions to the migration problems. He will be joined by the U.S. Ambassador from Guatemala and other experts including a Senior Officer from Heifer International, which is working to raise the income levels of thousands of farmers in Central America.
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