Construction delays in the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts are putting a damper on the recently announced artists participating in the Artist in Residence program. 

Gayle Seymour — associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences — said that the official schedule is still in the works. 

“We have an exciting line up this spring,” Seymour said. “We are still working to get the full schedule on our website. Because the concert hall in the Windgate Center is not quite finished, we have had to make some changes in scheduling and venues.”

The proposed concert hall is 450 seats, with a 65-seat choir section and twelve private viewing rooms.

CAHSS announced the upcoming lineup through a promotional video, featuring eight artists of varying disciplines. Fabiola Jean-Louis,  a paper sculptor, will remain in residence for the entirety of the semester thanks to a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Seymour said, “Jean-Louis’s extended residency is supported, not only by arts fees, but also by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.”

Jean-Louis’s three-month residency will include collaboration with Morrilton High School students as she creates “an immersive mausoleum sculpture made of paper clay,” according to a UCA news release. 

Also announced was L.A. Theatre Works, a live-performance group that will put on “Lucy Loves Desi: A funny thing happened on the way to the sitcom,” a play written by Gregg Oppenheimer. The show is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in Reynolds Performance Hall. Tickets are free for UCA students and can be purchased at the Reynolds box office. 

Several novelists will take residency including John Brandon, author of “Arkansas” which was recently adapted into a film starring Liam Hemsworth, Clark Duke, Michael Kenneth Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Eden Brolin, Chandler Duke, John Malkovich and Vince Vaughn. Brandon is slated to visit campus March 1-2.

Matthew Salesses, author of “Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear” will follow, visiting March 15-16.

Hideaki Tsutsui will cover technical aspects of live shows such as lighting design March 31-April 6.

Kim Chi, also known as Sang-Yong Shin, is a drag queen most known for appearing on season eight of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Chi will visit campus April 5-7 with a focus on fashion design and theatrical makeup. 

Tawny Chatmon, a photographer who uses mixed media to create dynamic portraits will visit April 15-22. Chatmon is scheduled for a collaborative talk with Jean-Louis in the Windgate Center’s art lecture hall at 7:30 p.m. April 20.

The semester will conclude with opera singer Kristin Lewis from April 12-22. 

Artists featured in the program are submitted by faculty members. 

Seymour said, “In conjunction with department chairs, the CAHSS dean and associate deans make final selections. I negotiate all the contracts and coordinate events with faculty sponsors. Through this process, we are able to tie residencies to classroom curricula, making the interactions with students even more meaningful.”

In addition to providing current students with enriching learning experiences, the program also acts as a point of interest for students not yet enrolled.

Hannah Hanshaw, an academic adviser and recruiter for the CAHSS, said the program is inspiring to many types of students, not just those in fine arts. 

“The AiR program is obviously a huge selling point for prospective students who want to pursue a major in fine arts, but the artists that we bring in are so diverse that I often find even non-art students get really excited about the residencies,” Hanshaw said. 

“The ones who plan to major in the arts get most excited when I tell them that the program includes in-class and small-group sessions with the artists. It’s not only that they get to see their public performances, but they get to learn from these world-class artists in their classrooms.”

Of all the artists, Hanshaw said she is most excited about Jean-Louis. 

“I am a big “Drag Race” fan so of course I am literally counting the days until Kim Chi’s residency, but I am probably most excited about Fabiola Jean-Louis. I got to meet her in the Fall of 2021 when she was doing a short-term residency and was blown away by her use of multiple mediums to include Black and Brown people in historical imagery and narratives that they’d historically been excluded from.”

Information about the Artist in Residence program can be found at uca.edu/cahss/artists-in-residence.