Walton Arts Center is proud to announce the return of Artosphere: Arkansas’ Arts + Nature Festival May 4-24, with events at locations across Northwest Arkansas.
Artosphere celebrates art, music and nature with exciting performances, activities and events for the whole family. Each year, Artosphere spotlights artists and performers from around the world who are inspired by nature and provides a creative framework for the community to discuss issues of sustainability and environmental awareness.
The multi-week festival features a mix of free and low-cost events, including outdoor performances, large orchestral concerts and several chamber music performances in special spaces throughout our region.
Whether you are looking for a concert in a garden, a fun art exhibition, performers on the trails or in bars, free film screenings or even yoga with live music, Artosphere has something creative, unexpected and accessible for all.
New this year, throughout the month of May you can enjoy Tunes on the Trail when you visit the trail systems at Lake Fayetteville, Mount Kessler, Mount Sequoyah, Cato Springs, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Frisco Trail. Enjoy a curated playlist featuring Artosphere Festival Orchestra’s most-loved performances from the past 10 festival seasons. To listen along while enjoying the trails, scan the QR code on signage placed at each trailhead.
Also new this year is Fashion Machine May 13-14, an opportunity to foster creativity in the next generation of artists. Professional artists, photographers and textile experts from Canada’s Theatre SKAM will guide 28 local children as they redesign and rework outfits worn by audience members. After an hour at the hands of the kids’ sewing machines, the audience members will don their remade outfits and showcase their new looks in a fashion show with commentary by the kids.
Except where noted below, tickets or reservations for these events are available now. Purchase or reserve tickets to all events at artospherefestival.org, by calling 479.443.5600 weekdays 10 am-5 pm or in person at the Walton Arts Center Box Office weekdays 10 am-2 pm.
Ticketed Performances
Indie Films Artosphere Curated by Fayetteville Film Fest
8 pm | Friday, May 12 | Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center
Tickets: $15 plus applicable fees
Artosphere Festival Orchestra An Evening of Brahms and Beethoven
7 pm | Tuesday, May 16 | Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center
Tickets: $10
Dover Quartet An Evening of Hadyn, Walker and Dvořák
7 pm | Wednesday, May 17 | Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center
Tickets: $29 plus applicable fees
Chapel Music Series: Smokey & The Mirror
6:30 pm | Wednesday, May 17 | The Chapel Ruins at Sassafras Springs Vineyard, Springdale
Tickets: $15 plus applicable fees
Chapel Music Series: Smokey & The Mirror
6:30 pm | Thursday, May 18 | Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel, Bella Vista
Tickets: $15 plus applicable fees
Artosphere Festival Orchestra Respighi’s Roman Trilogy
8 pm | Saturday, May 20 | Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center
Tickets: $15-50 plus applicable fees
Artosphere Festival Orchestra Live from Crystal Bridges: Mozart in the Museum
7 pm | Wednesday, May 24 | Crystal Bridges’ Great Hall
Tickets: $49 plus applicable fees
Free Events and Performances
Trout Fishing in America
6:30 pm | Tuesday, May 9 | Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, Fayetteville
Tickets: Free but ticketed event
StoneLion Puppet Theater’s Little Red Hen’s Garden
10:30 am | Tuesday, May 9 | Fayetteville Public Library
StoneLion Puppet Theater’s Little Red Hen’s Garden
4 pm | Wednesday, May 10 | Springdale Public Library
Artosphere Film Screening: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds
8:30 pm | Wednesday, May 10 | Prairie Street Live, Fayetteville
Tickets: Free but ticketed event
StoneLion Puppet Theater’s Little Red Hen’s Garden
2 pm & 5:30 pm | Thursday, May 11 | Bentonville Public Library
Free tickets available starting at 9am on-site, day of show
Trail Mix on The Lower Ramble
5:30-7:30 pm | Friday, May 12 | The Lower Ramble, Fayetteville
Fashion Machine
7 pm Saturday, May 13 | 2 pm Sunday, May 14
Yvonne Richardson Community Center, Fayetteville
Tickets: Free but ticketed event
The Herbie Hancock Institute National Peer-to-Peer Jazz Sextet
with special guests from the Northwest Arkansas Jazz All-Stars
featuring Saxophonist Don Braden and vocalist Lisa Henry
7 pm | Thursday, May 18 | Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center
Tickets: Free but ticketed event
AFO Off the Grid
7-11 pm | Thursday, May 18 | Downtown Fayetteville Entertainment District
Official locations will be announced soon!
Artosphere Film Screening: The Artist and the Astronaut
7 pm | Friday, May 19 | Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center
Tickets: Free but ticketed event
Yoga in the Atrium
2 pm | Sunday, May 21 | Walton Arts Center Atrium
Tickets: Free but ticketed event
Partner & Artosphere-Sponsored Events
First Thursday featuring Papa Rap & Irie Lions
Sponsored by Artosphere
5:30-9 pm | Thursday, May 4 | Downtown Fayetteville Square
Free
Arkansas Pottery Festival
May 5-7 | Community Creative Center
Free
First Friday featuring Papa Rap & Coloring Twelve, presented by The Music Education Initiative
Sponsored by Artosphere
5-9 pm | Friday, May 5 | Downtown Bentonville Square
Free
Railyard Live featuring Proyecto Tumbado & DJ Susie Q
Sponsored by Artosphere
8 pm | Friday, May 5 | Downtown Rogers Butterfield Stage
Tickets: Free-$30 available at railyardlive.com
Yoga in the Garden
9:30 am | Saturday, May 6 | Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, Fayetteville
Tickets: Free but ticketed event at bgozarks.org
Square to Square Starting Line featuring The Juice
Sponsored by Artosphere
7 am | Saturday, May 6 | Walker Park, Fayetteville
Square to Square registration is $35 for adults 14 and up / $20 for youth 13 and under
Register at fayetteville-ar.gov
Railyard Live featuring Rodney Block Collective & Pura Coco
Sponsored by Artosphere
8 pm | Saturday, May 6 | Downtown Rogers Butterfield Stage
Tickets: Free-$30 available at railyardlive.com
Crystal Bridges’ Garden Party
Noon-4 pm | Saturday, May 13 | Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville
Free
Jazz on the Mountain featuring Dillon Brouse Quartet
Sponsored by Artosphere
7 pm | Friday, May 19 | Mount Sequoyah, Fayetteville
Tickets: $12 available at mountsequoyah.networkforgood.com
For more information about the Artosphere Festival and a complete event lineup, download the Artosphere App from Google Play or the Apple App Store or visit artospherefestival.org. The Artosphere App is compatible with all standard smartphones and tablets. App Store is a service mark of Apple® Inc. Google Play™ is a trademark of Google Inc.
Artosphere Festival is sponsored by Walmart. Reed & Mary Greenwood provide Artosphere Festival Orchestra Principal Support for Maestro Corrado Rovaris and are Show Underwriters for Dover Quartet. Premier Show Underwriters are Kelly and Marti Sudduth and Show Underwriters are Peter B. Lane and Barbara Putnam for An Evening of Brahms and Beethoven, Respighi’s Roman Trilogy and Mozart in the Museum. 10×10 concert support provided by Paul M Angell Family Foundation, Tyson Foods, E&J Gallo. Media support provided by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, KUAF 91.3 FM Public Radio, Celebrate Arkansas magazine and CitiScapes magazine. Artosphere Festival is made possible by Friends of Artosphere.
Support for Walton Arts Center is provided, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Walton Arts Center is Arkansas’ largest and busiest performing arts presenter. Each year more than 215,000 people from Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma and beyond attend more than 300 public events at Walton Arts Center, including performances, rehearsals, community gatherings, receptions, weddings and more. Approximately 35,000 students and teachers participate annually in arts learning programs at Walton Arts Center, and almost 250 volunteers donate 28,000 hours of time each year to its operations. Walton Arts Center presents entertainers and artists from around the world including Broadway musicals, renowned dance companies, international artists, up-and-coming jazz musicians and more. As a non-profit organization, Walton Arts Center enjoys the generous support of public sector funding, corporate sponsorship and private donors, allowing audience members to enjoy world-class performances at a great price. To learn more about Walton Arts Center, visit www.waltonartscenter.org.
