Schedule Of Events

September 4, 2025

7:30 Pm : Funkanites

It’s time to get your funk on with $10 tickets to celebrate the opening of ACANSA’s 10th Festival!

On Opening Night of #ACANSA2025, The Funkanites raise the roof and set the rhythm for the Festival. This octet of beloved musicians brings a modern edge to ‘60s and ‘70s Afrobeat, soul, and funk with bold brass and deep grooves. It’s time to get your funk on with $10 tickets to celebrate ACANSA’s 10th Festival!Funky Instrumentalists : Judson Spillyards - Guitar, Ryan Hitt - Bass, Norman Williamson - Tenor Sax, Daniel Olah - DrumsDave Williams - Baritone Sax, Jose Holloway - Trumpet, Ryan D Davis - Vocals/Percussion, Tarick Horton - Keys, Special guest: Aerion Jamal Lee (drums) And there’s always a chance for a surprise or two!

Location : The Hall, 721 W 9th St, Little Rock, AR 72201

September 5, 2025

7:30pm : Frisson

“a shiver or a thrill, a sudden feeling of excitement”

Hailed as “the classical group that does it all” Frisson melds technical tradition and genre-bending innovation to create just what their French eponym inspires:  “a shiver or a thrill, a sudden feeling of excitement.” Joining Patrick Hopkins (cello), Avi Nagin (violin) and Chieh-Fan Yiu (viola) are virtuoso oboist Tom Gallant and pianist Marika Bournaki who The Huffington Post described as “the Celine Dion of Classical” for her dazzling vivacity.

Location : ASO Morgan Hall, Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, 1101 E. 3rd St., Little Rock, AR 72202

September 7, 2025

7:30pm : Koresh Dance Company

Artistic director and choreographer Ronen Koresh – known for inventive choreography that is at once tender yet passionate, humorous and rhythmic – takes us on a fantastical adventure with a program created especially for Arkansas audiences. Accompanied onstage at times by composer and operatic soprano Sage DeAgro-Ruopp, the dance company’s superb precision and dazzling mastery of ballet, modern and jazz promise an unforgettable performance of both the familiar and the new.

Location : The Center for Humanities & Arts (CHARTS), 3300 W. Scenic Dr., North Little Rock, AR

September 11, 2025

7:30pm : Jazz at the Joint

“The dynamics and control are astonishing, and Weldon sounds like he is living through his horn in the most soulful, expressive way.”
Internationally renowned veteran sax man Jerry Weldon joins Arkansas’ venerated guitarist Ted Ludwig, Hammond B3 master Pat Bianchi, and unwavering percussionist Steve Pruitt for a superb evening of live jazz music. ACANSA is delighted to partner with Jazz at the Joint to present such an iconic quartet at Birdies in the Argenta Arts District. 

Location : Birdies , 301 Main St, North Little Rock, AR 72114

September 12, 2025

7:30pm : Broadway's Next Hit Musical

“New York City’s finest improvisors. Run, don’t walk to Broadway’s Next Hit Musical.” ~ Theater Pizzazz
Stay tuned for “The Phony Awards”, the original improvised awards show! You and your fellow audience members suggest songs, and master improvisers create a spontaneous evening of music, comedy and a ton of laughs! Everyone votes for their favorite song, and the cast turns this Phony Award-winning song into a show chockful of memorable characters, witty dialogue, plot twists galore.

Location : Argenta Contemporary Theatre, 405 Main Street, North Little Rock, AR 72114

September 13, 2025

10am-2pm : Family Arts Day

10:30am Performance: Momandpop, a Parent’s Choice Award-winning kids’ comedy and music duo

1:00pm Performance: Little Rock Winds - 16 members of the orchestra perform on our outdoor stage

Together with UA-PTC and Argenta Arts District, ACANSA welcomes all ages to creative, hands-on activities for the young and young at heart. This year’s FAD is held during Dogtown Throwdown, a popular community event that brings together families and friends to celebrate the weekend – and ACANSA’s 10th Festival! Several blocks of Main Street are closed to automobile traffic during Dogtown Throwdown, which includes a Big Dam Horns concert Saturday evening. Argenta’s restaurants serve indoors and outdoors Friday afternoon through Saturday night. No matter your age, the arts will make your day!

Location : Argenta Arts District, 406 Main St., North Little Rock, AR

September 14, 2025

1:30 - 3:30pm  : Gospel Brunch

With a nod to Festivals past, the Gospel Brunch is back! Join us for an uplifting afternoon of soulful sounds from award-winning St. Mark Baptist Church Choir members.

Location : The Venue at Westwind, 7318 Windsong Dr., North Little Rock 72113

September 18, 2025

7pm : Delita Martin

“Paean to Black Womanhood”

Visual storyteller Delita Martin reconstructs the identity of Black women and their roles within community and family structures. Through multiple mediums she builds a visual language of signs and symbols found in everyday life, from slavery through modern times, to offer a different perspective of marginalized Black women. Join ACANSA and Potluck and Poison Ivy as Delita shares how the intersections of art and life have guided her from childhood inspiration through her time as a lecturer at the University of Arkansas Little Rock and on to the exhibition of her work in more than 28 museums and institutions worldwide. 

Visual Storyteller

Delita Martin, born in Conroe, Texas, is a contemporary artist living and working in Huffman, Texas. She received her BFA in drawing from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. She then completed her graduate work at Purdue University where she received an MFA in 2009 with an emphasis in Printmaking, Drawing, Mixed Media, and Installation. Formally a member of the fine arts faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Martin is currently working as a full-time artist in her studio, Black Box Press. Martin’s work explores the beauty and complexity of spiritual identities, primarily working from oral traditions, along with vintage and family photographs as a source of inspiration.  Through her mixed-media printmaking practice, which includes the layering of various printmaking processes, drawing, painting, collaging, and hand-stitching, she celebrates their strength and resilience in a world that often overlooks or devalues African American Women. She uses patterns, texture, and color, to create immersive veilscapes (spirit worlds), that are deeply personal yet accessible to viewers. Her layering of technique signifies a liminal space – the space between the waking life and the spirit life. Martin’s distinctive style combines elements of realism, abstractions, and symbolism, creating bold and beautiful portraits of Black Women as they transition between the spirit world and the waking world. She continues to explore the complex layers of identity and experiences, celebrating the powerful legacy of African American Women. Martin served has as 2021 keynote speaker for the Mid America Print Council and keynote speaker and organizer of Presidential Panel at the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) Annual Conference in 2024. Her work has exhibited both nationally and internationally, participating in 25 solo exhibitions and included in over 60 group exhibitions throughout the United States, and internationally in Cuba, Denmark, Portugal, London, Italy, Germany, and India. Notably, her work exhibited in the 2022 Venice Biennale, National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, DC and welcomed into the Library of Congress.

Doors open at 6pm. Show starts at 7pm.

Location : Birdies, 301 Main St., North Little Rock, AR 72114

7:30pm : The Westerlies

“Chamber music with bracing melodies and, crucially, and undeniable sense of fun.” – L.A. Times

From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, and now in central Arkansas, The Westerlies embody the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along. Riley Mulkerar and Chloe Rowlands on trumpet, and Andy Clausen and Addison Maye-Saxon on trombone have explored jazz, roots and chamber music influences across ten critically-acclaimed albums. Creating music that NPR calls “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous,” The Westerlies are blowing through for one night only. 

Location : ASO Morgan Hall, Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, 1101 E. 3rd St., Little Rock, AR 72202

September 19, 2025

5-8:00pm : Delita Martin

Opening Night of Solo Exhibition

Visit Acansa Gallery to experience the depth and scope of art created by Delita Martin, a fine arts printmaker known internationally for integrating letterpress, lithography, intaglio and relief printing in her work. Through a visual language of signs, symbols and portraiture, Delita explores the role of Black women through time, adding perspective to their lives within familial and community constructs.

Location : Acansa Gallery, 413A Main St., North Little Rock, AR 72114

7:30pm : Slocan Ramblers

Touring across Canada and the U.S. this summer from their home in Toronto, Ontario, the fleet-fingered Slocan Ramblers share their impeccable bluegrass musicianship and tight harmonies on the final Friday evening of ACANSA’s 2025 Festival. Known for passionate live performances that bring listeners to their feet, this award-winning band takes bluegrass back to its earliest Appalachian roots and pulls the genre forward in fascinating new directions

Slocan Ramblers

Quartet

The Slocan Ramblers (featured debut on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville TN, 2020 IBMA Momentum Band of the Year Award Winner & 2019 Juno Award Nominee) are Canada’s bluegrass band to watch. Rooted in tradition, fearlessly creative and possessing a bold, dynamic sound, The Slocans have become a leading light of today’s acoustic music scene. With a reputation for energetic live shows, impeccable musicianship and an uncanny ability to convert anyone within earshot into a lifelong fan, The Slocans have been winning over audiences from Merlefest to RockyGrass and everywhere in between. On their new album Up the Hill and Through the Fog, the all-star Canadian roots ensemble channels the past two years of loss into a surprisingly joyous collection of twelve songs intended to uplift and help make sense of the world. Bluegrass music is nothing short of catharsis for The Slocan Ramblers. Though the past few years have brought the group accolades, that same momentum was abruptly halted by the pandemic’s brutal impact on live music. Over the next year, bandmates Adrian Gross and Darryl Poulsen both lost close family members and their bassist decided to step back to spend more time at home. They channeled these tumultuous changes into some of their most honest and direct compositions yet. Up the Hill and Through the Fog showcases the breadth of their varied influences while staying true to their roots in the rough and tumble bluegrass scene of Toronto’s no-nonsense bars and dancehalls. From Frank Evan’s classic, dusty vocals, to John Hartford-inspired lyrical musings, it’s all buttressed by impeccable musicianship, and emotionally raw songwriting from the three core members. This is roots music without pretension, art powerful enough to cut through the fog of the past two years and chart a more hopeful course forward.

Location : Library Square, 100 River Market Ave., Little Rock, AR 72201

September 20, 2025

4-9pm : Hispanic Heritage Festival

Celebrate the arts and the contributions of our local Hispanic community, artists, music, and culinary scene with authentic food vendors, family activities and live entertainment. Multi-instrumentalists Larry & Joe – a Venezuelan joropo maestro and a Grammy-nominated bluegrass star –  perform at 5:30. Argenta’s VIBE series continues at 7:30 with Pura Coca, a Latina alternative R&B and soul artist who blends the grit and soul of her NYC upbringing with the warmth and rhythm of her Southern influence in Springdale, AR. She’ll perform backed by her full band and DJ Raquel.

4:30pm Performance: Ballet Folklorico Quetzalli

5:30pm Performance: Larry & Joe

7:30pm Performance: Pura Coco

Larry & Joe

Destino/ Destiny

Larry & Joe were destined to make music together.

Larry Bellorín hails from Monagas, Venezuela and is a legend of Llanera music. Joe Troop is from North Carolina and is a GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime musician. Larry was forced into exile and is an asylum seeker in North Carolina. Joe, after a decade in South America, got stranded back in his stomping grounds in the pandemic. Larry worked construction to make ends meet. Joe’s acclaimed “latingrass” band Che Apalache was forced into hiatus, and he shifted into action working with asylum seeking migrants. Then Larry met Joe. Currently based in the Triangle of North Carolina, both men are versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters on a mission to show that music has no borders. As a duo they perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, upright bass, and whatever else they decide to throw in the van. The program they offer features a distinct blend of their musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling about the ways that music and social movements coalesce.

Larry Bellorín

Larry Bellorín grew up in Punta de Mata in the state of Monagas, Venezuela. His mother, a poor farmworker, raised him. By age 6, he became a shoe shiner and built a faithful clientele by singing as he polished, taking requests for the popular Vallenatos of the day. He eventually caught the attention of a local music educator who invited him to study at the city’s premiere music school. Larry’s first instrument was the cuatro, a 4-string guitar with Spanish roots central to the Venezuelan identity and typically the first instrument a folk musician is taught there. Cuatristas strum out complex polyrhythms at dizzying speeds as accompaniment for vocalists and harpists. Larry quickly excelled and by age 11 was supporting himself through music alone. He soon became proficient on guitar, electric bass, mandolin and maracas as well. By age 13, he was well-versed in the folk music of his region (valse, pasaje, joropo, música oriental) and was honored as first cuatrista for the local Casa de Cultura. After filling in on cuatro for a friend on a gig at a local pizzeria, Larry met an authentic llanera harpist named Urbino Ruiz, who immediately took him under his wing as an apprentice. After only a month of tutelage, Larry had a repertoire of 40 songs. “I played so much, I would wake up hunched over my harp,” he recalls. In 1999, Urbano invited Larry to perform with him alongside Venezuelan cultural treasure Renaldo Armas at the Punta de Mata’s Parque Ferial. After playing, Armas, a GRAMMY winner and the country’s most well known champion of Llanera music, introduced him to the crowd of more than 8,000 people as “el maestro Larry Bellorín.” From that point forward, Larry was respected as such. Larry went on to accompany countless Venezuelan musical luminaries including Cristina Maica, Teo Galindez, and Rumi Olivo. While touring the country as a performer, he and his wife opened Casa Vieja, a school dedicated to teaching Música Llanera. In three years, he taught nearly five hundred students and launched Monagas’ first Musicá Llanera festival. Inspired by the success of Gustavo Dudamel’s orchestral program El Sistema, the state-funded parallel folk program Alma Llanera aimed to enrich the lives of and promote cultural heritage to children through Venezuela’s folk music. Larry taught harp, cuatro, and vocals to countless students. In 2012 Venezuela began to collapse, and it became impossible to maintain a music school. Poverty and violence reached unprecedented extremes, and new political realities threatened Larry and his family’s lives. He decided to go to the United States in search of work and asylum for his family. He arrived with only thirty dollars and slept on the floor of an unfurnished room while doing construction day labor. His wife and young daughter eventually joined him. Having faced political persecution, they were able to open a case for asylum. Larry has endured wage theft and several work site injuries but continues to look to the future with hope. Prior to the pandemic, Larry was beginning to find work as a musician in North Carolina, playing bass in Salsa bands and booking his own Venezuelan folk group across the state. But the pandemic’s restrictions on social gatherings ended those opportunities, and Larry returned to full time construction work.

Pura Coco

Musician

“Through my heartfelt compositions as a singer-songwriter, my artistic practice is a testament to my ongoing exploration of self and community. As an artist, my musical journey is deeply rooted in my personal experiences as a first generation queer Latina. My primary goal and passion in creating music is to forge connections and ensure that listeners never feel alone in a world that often feels so alienated from community spaces, art spaces, family and friends. My songs are crafted from a spectrum of emotions, ranging from lack of connection to mindfulness. Each composition serves as a portal, inviting the listener to embark on a unique journey. Whether it’s a reflection of culture, introspection into the self, or an exploration of life, my music is for those who seek introspection and contemplation. Designed for minds that crave thoughtfulness and hearts that yearn for emotional space, my music aims to provide a sanctuary where listeners can delve into the intricate landscapes of their own thoughts and feelings. My album, ‘Good Company,’ contemplates themes of self-acceptance and personal growth. It’s a heartfelt journal that celebrates joy in life’s small moments and embraces contentment. Standout tracks like ‘We Ain’t Gotta Be So Sad’ and ‘My Body’ illuminate my resilient spirit and inner strength, offering a glimpse into the transformative journey explored throughout the album.“

Location : Argenta Plaza, 510 N Main St., North Little Rock, AR 72114

Date : September 4-20, 2025

Location : Various Towns in AR

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