What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1366969
8 WHAT'S UP! MAY 2-8, 2021 FAQ Artosphere Art+Nature Festival WHEN — May 6-23 WHERE — The Walton Arts Center and various locations around Northwest Arkansas COST — Many events free; some ticketed events INFO — 443-5600, waltonartscenter.org April Showers Bring May Festivals JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette P ast years of the Artosphere Arts+Nature Festival have had a theme. Water, space, even biking, laid a thematic foundation around which the Walton Arts Center's programming team built artistic offerings for the nearly month- long Northwest Arkansas festival. As Artosphere makes its return after a covid-induced hiatus, 2021 felt like the perfect opportunity to return to the basics, says Sallie Zazal: art, nature and sustainability. "With that in mind, we started looking at the elements of our festival that we normally have, and they just fit so well during this time," explains Zazal, director of learning and engagement at WAC and Artosphere coordinator. "So much of what we do is outside [and] we do a lot of free events with Artosphere, typically. So those two things really worked well with the festival planning this year." And so, Artosphere was back on! Organizers knew pretty quickly, though, that a few elements were still going to have to look different, Zazal shares. Two festival cornerstones — the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, which contracts some 90 musicians from all over the world each year, and the intimate Chapel Music Series — will not be part of the festival's 11th year. The silver lining, Zazal says, is that the loss of the AFO opened doors for more ways to work with local artists. "We've developed some really great relationships with these local artists Artosphere returns to its roots at Walton Arts Center Al "Papa Rap" Lopez of Springdale performs along the Frisco Trail in downtown Fayetteville during Trail Mix at the last Artosphere festival in 2019. Lopez again joins the Trail Mix lineup for Artosphere's signature event when the festival returns this month. (NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/ANDY SHUPE) FEATURE