Patrons of the arts can get an early look at the pieces that will be included in this year's "Art Moves" installation when Arts & The Park hosts a Sneak Peek Sunday Social Fundraiser on Sunday, April 25.
"Those who attend the fundraiser will get the first sneak peek of the 2021 'Art Moves' outdoor exhibit that will be installed the following Friday on the Hot Springs Creek Greenway Trail," Mary Zunick, executive director of the Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance, which is sponsoring the event, said.
In addition to raising money for the 10-day Arts & The Park festival, the event will also honor Don Gooch, who will be presented with the 2021 Arts Ambassador award.
"He was actually scheduled to be the 2020 Arts Ambassador recipient, but ... we decided just to push it off until this year where we can actually, truly have a celebration and honor him," Zunick said. "He's just been such an active part of, and supporter of, our Hot Springs arts community, in addition to just being a great business leader in our community.
"We had the press releases done, the program was ready to go to print when we stopped it," Zunick said.
The award Gooch will receive will be created by Longhua Xu, who was named an Arkansas Living Treasure in 2019.
"Each year, Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance asks a local artist to create the award," Zunick said, noting she has no idea what Xu is creating for Gooch.
"It is left up to the artist ... and he is such a versatile and talented artist, I'm not sure exactly what he's creating or what the gift will be, but no doubt it will be fantastic," she said.
"Fundraising for arts organizations has been a little bit difficult this year, so we decided to try to do a fundraiser, hoping that everyone might be ready for an event," Zunick said.
"We've been kind of fundraiser deprived this last year, so hopefully those folks who have missed all of those fundraisers that normally take place will want to come out and be a part of the fun," she said.
Due to COVID-19, they will limit the number of tickets sold to 100, and the event will be held outdoors at The Rooftop of The Water's Hotel, a hotel where Zunick's husband, Robert, is one of the partners, she said.
Holding the event outdoors "would add a little extra safety," Zunick said.
"There will be some awesome music," she said, noting a steel drum player will perform some songs by Henry Glover, a Black musician from Hot Springs. This year's festival is dedicated to Glover and artist George Hunt.
"Art Moves" is a competition where artists submit artwork to be printed on signs and placed along the trail.
The 10 signs from 2020 will be for sale at the fundraiser, Zunick said. "Those in attendance will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase the 2020 "Art Moves" pieces that have been on exhibit along the Greenway Trail."
The new artwork will go up on April 30. Zunick said several of the artists from the 2020 "Art Moves" will be in attendance for the fundraiser.
The new artwork has been selected with 11 pieces featured this year and as of Friday the new signs were already being printed, she said. "It was just hard to knock it down to 10, there were some really good pieces."
"We have everything from wood block print to photography, watercolor, oil, different styles of artwork. It's a very nice selection," she said.
Dorothy Morris, "Hot Springs queen of philanthropy," will serve as the celebrity bartender during the fundraiser, and she will be assisted by Monte Everhart, Zunick said.
Tickets are $150 and this is the first time they have done a fundraiser with a cost so high, she said, noting, "We've never done a fundraiser with higher tickets like that because we need to raise money for the organization."
