ACANSA

This past week while I was home in Arkansas visiting I kept seeing signs with the word ACANSA written on them. Nobody seemed to know what it was about so I did a quick Google and learned about the festival taking place with that name and how it came to be. 

Acansa is a Siouxan word meaning "people of the southern place" for those Quapaw who lived south of Missouri before Arkansas became a state. 

"ACANSA Arts Festival has adopted this name with commitment to celebrating the uniquely rich cultural vitality of the region."  

Hence for its first year in my home city of Little Rock, Arkansas there's ACANSA, a Southern Celebration of the Arts. September 24-28 artists have been sharing their art at different venues. 

There were art gallery events, concerts, lunch and learning sessions, dance troupe performances (including the Dallas Black Dance Theatre) among other cultural endeavors during the 5 days.

The Arkansas Rep kicked off the week with a World Premier comedic play about an eccentric Arkansan native, "Disfarmer" who took photos of local residents in Heber Springs for 25 cents. The play was followed by a book signing and there was also an exhibit with Disfarmer's photos. 

Phillip Huber was in town sharing his marionette talents called "Suspended Animation." 

We partook in the tail end of one of the free Saturday events in MacArthur Park at the Arts Center where local artists shared their wares at a juried art show. There were children's activities and music as well. One of the activities was creating people sculptures out of tape.

This year only a dozen or so artist booths represented the area's artistic talent. A talented musical family group performed while we were there. Since it was the very first year, participation was sparse in the park but with overcast skies and with no crowds, it was a pleasant outing en route to the airport before one of my kiddos headed back home. 

I hope ACANSA makes a go of it. A first year of any event is always trial and error and just getting the word out is always a challenge. Hopefully next year more of the community will partake and enjoy the arts together...