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Opening Celebration: Knowing the West

Festival
Museum-wide
FREE
This event has passed
Chiura Obata, Upper Lyell Fork, Near Lyell Glacier, ca. 1930, color woodcut, 15 3/4 in. x 11 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2023.34. Photography by Edward Robison III.

Come celebrate the opening of the Knowing the West exhibition!

Join us for a day of live music, hands-on artmaking, craft artisans, community partners, and so much more. Hold onto your hats and get ready for an exciting weekend filled with fun and festivities.

Free, no tickets required. Drop by anytime from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Program Guide

Rotunda

  • Welcome Table
  • Meet & Greet: Rodeo Queen Ja’Dayia Kursh
  • NWA Black Heritage & Art Ventures NWA
  • Fort Smith Museum of History
  • United States Marshals Museum

Garrison Lobby

  • Trick Roper Rider Kiesner
  • Membership Table

Walker Landing

  • Cane Hill Museum
  • Nokosee Fields
    • Performances: 11:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM
  • Artmaking: Candlemaking
  • Holliday Tintype

Temporary Exhibition Gallery

  • Knowing the West
  • Gallery Conversation with Curator Mindy Besaw & Rodeo Queen Ja’Dayia Kursh: 1 PM

Durand & Estes Studio

  • Museum of Native American History
  • Shiloh Museum

Bellows & Cassatt Classroom

  • Tommy Terrific: Black Cowboys of the Old West
    • Performances: 1 PM & 2:30 PM

The Studio

  • Weaving with Hillfolk Textile Studio
    • Studio Lecture: 1–1:30 PM

Modern Art Gallery

  • Chinese Association of NWA
    • Performance: 11–11:30 AM

Campus Parking

  • Live Music with Marshall Mitchell
    • Performances: 11:30 AM, 12:45 PM, 2 PM
  • Artmaking: Bolo Ties
  • Mini Horse Experience with Equestrian Bridges