Walton Arts Center set to bring “artosphere” festival to Fayetteville in May

By Christopher Spencer

The exact details are still a little hush-hush, but it’s clear that the arts festival planned by the Walton Arts Center this May will be a big deal.

WAC President and CEO Peter Lane spoke to the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission this morning, providing some tantalizing promise of what’s to come.

The A&P awarded the new festival $30,000 in the last round of grants with the expectation that it will draw people to the city to spend tourism dollars.

WAC also received $30,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts late last year for the festival,

A question was raised among commission members about whether that $30,000 could be better spent on established Broadway shows, but Lane and others from WAC turned up to defend the festival’s merit.

Concerns were quickly dispelled as Lane detailed a regional event headquartered in Fayetteville that will combine local, regional and national visual and theater artists with a nature theme.

Northwest Arkansas needs a regional arts festival and artosphere meets that need, he told commission members.

The goal is to provide a deep cultural experience that extends outside of the walls of the WAC  at little to no cost for the public or the arts center, he said

Tickets will cost no more than $30 per person, Lane said.

The arts center saw sales dip in the last year and smaller donations have slowed, he said.

Premium seats to “Fiddler On The Roof,” a major Broadway staple, this season were below expectation. Seats on the edges and other lower-cost areas had to be deeply discounted, he said.

The arts center is looking for new ways to engage the community and produce revenue. Artosphere strikes that cord, he said.

Questions were also raised among committee members about the propriety of using Fayetteville tax money to promote a regional event.

City Alderman and commission member Robert Rhoads said he thought it was good to promote a festival that could have a regional impact.

“If we promote all of Northwest Arkansas, all ships will rise with the rising tide,” he said.

Lane said a Web site detailing the new festival is expected soon and more announcements are forthcoming.

Stay tuned.

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