The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts has announced that Arkansas Cinema Society and Ballet Arkansas will be its “partner companies-in-residence,” along with other yet to be unveiled collaborations that are currently in development. AMFA’s Executive Director Dr. Victoria Ramirez thinks of the partnerships as an “opportunity to create an unforgettable inaugural year of programming spanning art, theatre, film, dance performances and more,” according to a press release.
The strongest indicator of what these residencies will entail is the accompanying announcement that Filmland 2023, ACS’s annual film festival, will be held Oct. 4-8 at the AMFA. Filmland screenings will occur in the Performing Arts Theater, a newly renovated space promising cutting-edge cinematic technology via Boston Light & Sound, whose A/V installations are said to be world class. Additionally, AFMA will host other year-round programming for ACS like the Filmmaking Lab for Teen Girls and the Arkansas Filmmaker Spotlight.
As for what the alliance between AMFA and Ballet Arkansas will look like, less has been officially stated. The two organizations have been in collaboration for years, but Michael Fothergill, Ballet Arkansas’s executive and artistic director, said that the company “look[s] forward to pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box.”
The grand opening of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts is Saturday, April 22.