UA Little Rock Downtown to Hold Panel Discussion on Art and Activism

UA Little Rock Downtown will host a panel discussion on art and activism on Nov. 8 to celebrate the opening of a new exhibition where young artists explore the voices of the past.

The panel discussion, “Cultivating Civic Engagement Through Art: How Art Can Help Us Reflect on the Past and Engage in the Present,” will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. at UA Little Rock Downtown, 333 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.

The panelists include Rex DeLoney, artist and educator at Little Rock Central High School; Jose Hernandez, artist with the 7th Street Mural Project and X3Mex; Dr. James Ross, historian and professor at UA Little Rock; and Jessica Taverna, art educator at Little Rock Central High School. Dr. Marta Cieslak, director of UA Little Rock Downtown will moderate the discussion on art, history, and civic engagement.

This panel discussion will accompany the opening of the exhibit, “Their Voices,” which will be on display through Dec. 7 at UA Little Rock Downtown. The exhibit features the artworks of young artists, who under the guidance of art teacher Jessica Taverna, reflected on the history of the Elaine Massacre. The question of how people can examine the past and engage in the present through art is in the center of this interdisciplinary project.

The “Their Voices” project was originally supported in part by a We The People grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as Thea Foundation.