What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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other local nonprofits. We hosted blood drives and outdoor concerts with local artists. We employed hospitality workers for shows and during Holidaze. We also took our Colgate Classroom Series virtual and reached new and different schools because of the free virtual opportunity. It was important to give back to the community, and people appreciated it. It reminded us we must be flexible and creative, and the pandemic allowed us to contribute in a different way. Q. For several years, there was discussion about needing a second edition of WAC in Benton County. Is that still a viable topic of discussion? A. A second performing arts center in Benton County is no longer being discussed. However, the findings from that research conducted 13 years ago on the feasibility of additional venues does still stand. A region of our size and our projected growth could easily support additional venues. For Walton Arts Center, the addition and permanent relocation of the Walmart AMP to Benton County helped fill much of the need and allowed us to expand programming into Benton County, but there's still room in the community for additional development. Q. If not, in what directions has WAC decided to grow instead and why? A. Deepening access to all of our programs is key to sustained growth for Walton Arts Center. We are continually asking ourselves how can we serve all members of the community? Some of the biggest growth opportunities are in the area of arts education serving children, families and teachers across the region. We want to build on our existing programs that serve 30,000 to 50,000 children and teachers annually. Work is getting under way now to identify not only all of the arts education programming in the region but also what our region lacks. This will allow us to develop initiatives and partnerships that fill those holes and help us serve every child in Northwest Arkansas. Q. It's too hard to look 30 years down the road! But where do you hope to see WAC in five years or 10? A. For Walton Arts Center, the future in my view will be more about quality and not quantity. We want to be laser focused on making sure the programs and services we offer in our halls, in schools, in the community and at the Walmart AMP meet the needs of our community. We need to create a place that educates as well as entertains and provide a home for the performing arts and for the artists who create it. We must continue supporting and serving art makers and producers in our community like Trike Theatre, SoNA, Opera Fayetteville, Community Creative Center, NWA Jazz Society and many more. Our goal is to help them grow in capacity and do more of that they are already doing. Our success as a region is tied to the diversity of our arts community, and I see a future where we continue bringing world- class performers to the region while also working even closer with art makers to create a fabric of arts programs that serve everyone in our vibrant region. That being said, the Broadway shows go into the calendar first — so we usually know pretty early in the booking cycle what the Broadway shows will be." After the Broadway calendar is established, she says, "we start filling in the space in between these shows with children and family programming, concerts and comedy, dance and world music performances and accessible programming through our 10x10 Arts Series," which this year includes diverse programming such as musical performances by Joey Alexander Trio, the online performance of "Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom," the "Triveni" concert by Zakir Hussien, the presentation "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" with a live soundtrack provided by Invoke and a dance workshop and performance by Contra Tiempo, among many other programs. Ross adds that despite setting up the shows well in advance, she has learned to roll with the changes. "Anything can happen with the tours! Just this year — a mere four weeks before our Broadway Sneak Peek event — we lost one of the shows we'd been planning on for a couple of years. Luckily, there was another tour that had the same exact week available, so we were able to make the substitution without too much trouble … but we're all still sad about the show we lost." She is, as always, excited about the future of Broadway programming at Walton Arts Center, however. "The future is bright! With the continued support of our Broadway fans, we expect to keep bringing the best of touring Broadway and first-year national tours." In addition to bringing shows and events like Artosphere and the VoiceJam festival to the Walton Arts Center, WAC also partners with other arts organizations in the area helping to expand arts programming beyond their corner of Dickson Street. "Symphony of Northwest Arkansas is a resident company of Walton Arts Center," Ross explains. "We work together on many projects, including the Fourth of July celebration at the Walmart AMP and our family holiday program, 'The Snowman.' We've had a strong and successful relationship for many years. "Likewise, TheatreSquared was a resident company with their home at Nadine Baum Studios for their first 10 years. We are thrilled that they have been so successful," she goes on. "We work with other local arts organizations including Trike Theatre, Opera Fayetteville and the Fayetteville Film Fest and are continually growing relationships with other organizations through new initiatives. We work with these organizations and give them a place where they can perform or present their work and sometimes the support that they need to help them grow, like ticketing services. "We strive to bring the productions and artists that people know and, at the same time, bring productions and artists that are new to Northwest Arkansas," Ross concludes. "We know that our region is richly diverse, and we hope that by offering so many programs that everyone will be able to find something to love on our stage." WAC AT 30 38 WHAT'S UP! APRIL 24-30, 2022 PRESIDENT Brent A. Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca REPORTERS Monica Hooper mhooper@nwadg.com April Wallace awallace@nwadg.com (479) 770-3746 DESIGNER Deb Harvell ! UP WHAT'S ON THE COVER Three decades ago, the Walton Arts Center was a hole in the ground at the corner of West Avenue and Dickson Street and a dream in the minds of the city of Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas. The arts center celebrates its 30th anniversary on April 26. (COURTESY PHOTO/WAC) What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. FYI WAC By The Numbers Walton Arts Center's first season saw 55 performances of 42 shows. Walton Arts Center has presented approximately 1,275 shows over the past 30 years. WAC has partnered with producers to tech and launch 13 touring shows from Walton Arts Center over the years. The first season Walton Arts Center managed the Walmart AMP, there were 13 shows. The 2021 season had 28 shows, and the 2022 season is on track to break any previous records with more than 35 shows announced. Since the acquisition, there have been 166 concerts at the Walmart AMP with more than 1.6 million tickets sold. The Colgate Classroom Series has allowed more than 900,000 students and teachers to see shows at free or reduced costs. Some 24,260 free tickets have been given to members of the community in need through the Take a Seat Program. Walton Arts Center has also hosted more than 700 school and community master classes. Walton Arts Center has raised more than $24 million for arts education and outreach in NWA through the support of more than 8,500 families, and 430 corpora- tions and foundations. WAC has 97 full-time employees; 34 part-time employees; 518 seasonal, day-of-show employees; and 213 volunteers. Touring Shows Continued From Page 8 Lane Continued From Page 9