What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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APRIL WALLACE NWA Democrat-Gazette I f you're not planning a cross-country trip this summer, you can still get the feeling of having visited eight very distinct American communities by attending the Live in America festival at the Momentary. The music and performance art event, which started June 2, will feature more than 300 artists through June 12, transporting guests to Albuquerque, Detroit, El Paso/Juarez, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Northwest Arkansas, San Juan and Sumter County, Ala. Tickets are free, which means many events have sold out, but festival organizers encourage everyone to come anyway and get on waitlists for the chance to see the special programming they've worked on bringing to Northwest Arkansas for the past few years. Cynthia Post Hunt, programmer of theater and dance at the Momentary, has been working on the festival with Fusebox since before the contemporary art space opened. "Performances are very celebratory, very of-place, with works made by artists who live in the region and are based there, part of the community and making work about what it feels like to live in that place and bring it here to share with our audience," Hunt says. Most of the works are "more about the feeling (of the place) rather than a description or politics and [they] flow from piece to piece." Each one is a microscopic look at what it might feel like to visit that city or region, dipping audience members into the energy of the place. Hosting the performances over the span of two weeks allows a better quality of experience, Hunt says, by slowing down the pace of an ordinary music and arts festival. "In the field of contemporary performance or music, it's usually about how much you can cram in a weekend, so we were trying to come up with a different way it could be," Hunt says. Each weekend day will have a full slate of events, such as those for New Orleans on June 4 and Albuquerque on the second weekend. You start on the strip Kicking off Live in America June 2 was a submersive experience that paid homage to Las Vegas, what people think of when they think "Vegas" and the parts of it that locals enjoy, says Justin Favela, who was in Elvis costume that night. Visitors experienced a series of vignettes while walking through the Momentary tower and projections that imitated the sensory overload of the Vegas strip. Performances started outdoors with Brent Holmes, an artist whose work centers on the forgotten Black history of the American cowboy. The Vegas crew provided a series of small, personal performances that were not straight cabaret but gave visitors a similar variety of experiences they might ordinarily find in Vegas, with some productions reflecting a casino experience, Favela says. "A lot of people see Vegas as an artificial place, but we want to point out how interesting our history is, how amazing people here are and how we're a reflection of what the rest of the world wants when they travel and what kind of fun they want to get into," Favela says. The Vegas artists wanted to shed a new light on the old destination. The set for the Vegas performances was an extensive, cardboard replica that was designed to highlight the playfulness, experimental and ephemeral nature of Sin City. Getting it across the country in mint condition meant packing it up in a U-Haul. There were nods to the Rat Pack, glamorous old days of Vegas, but mainly Favela and the other Vegas artists focused on the art community of current times and the absurdities they find in their city. Powwow Closing out Live in America is the Albuquerque Pop-Up Powwow with indigenous artists performing a "glitterized" version of rituals, healing and celebration by Two Spirit, Indigi-queer people. Ty Defoe (Oneida/Ojibwe Nations), a Live in America producer, facilitator and interdisciplinary artist, says the performances should draw attention to the history of tribal nations in the initial waves of colonization as they were forcibly removed from lands and the genocide and persecution of tribal practices that followed. But the art form will be used to bring out "voices that need to be heard and seen in the world … helping us create space for personal JUNE 5-11, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 3 FAQ Live in America WHEN — June 2-12 WHERE — The Momen- tary, 507 S.E. E St. in Bentonville COST — Free; reserva- tions required INFO — themomentary. org FYI Live in America Events June 5 — Alabama: Homecoming, 2-4 p.m., Tulip Barn. June 5 — Northwest Arkansas: More Like a Hot Pot Less Like a Salad, 6-7:30 p.m., Rode House. June 9 — Juarez-El Paso: El Puente, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Fermentation Hall. June 9-11 — Live in a Squareykah, 9 p.m.-midnight, Momentary Square. Free; no registration required. June 10 — Live in Amer- ica Talks, 5 p.m., The Tower. Free; no regis- tration required. June 10 — Puerto Rico: More Than Land, 7:30- 9:30 p.m., Rode House. June 11 — Northwest Arkansas: More Like a Hot Pot Less Like a Salad, 7:30-9 p.m., Rode House. June 12 — Albuquerque: Pop-Up Powwow, noon-6 p.m., Momen- tary Green. INFO — themomentary. org See Festival Page 4 An American Journey Momentary festival offers infusion of place BENTONVILLE A Pueblo hoop hancer in Albuquerque, N.M., is chronicled in this photo by Ashley Lynn Browning, courtesy of Live in America/ Fusebox. The second weekend of the Momentary's Live in America festival includes a Pop-Up Powwow from noon to 6 p.m. June 12 on the Momentary Green. (Courtesy Photo)