Ovations+ | Building the Arts Education Community in Bentonville

Discover the vibrant educational scene of arts and culture in Bentonville through this captivating conversation with Jessica Sudduth, Senior Education Manager at Ovations+. 

From theater classes and student productions to orchestra concerts and youth ensembles, Ovations+ offers a wide range of enriching programs to bring premier children’s theater to NWA through the merger of Trike Theatre and Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Get the inside scoop on upcoming summer camps, fall classes, and not-to-be-missed events like the Arkansas Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the adult orchestra’s side-by-side concert at Crystal Bridges on March 27. Whether you're new to the area or a longtime resident, this episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about the flourishing arts and culture scene in Bentonville.

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Transcript

Jaclyn House: 0:10

Welcome to A New American Town, a podcast proudly presented by Visit Bentonville. I'm your host, Jaclyn House, broadcasting from Haxton Road Studios near Bentonville Square. Join us as we shape captivating stories and updates from our city, connecting you with the locals that make this town worth visiting. Fun fact: Did you know that Bentonville is the home of premier children's theater, and I'm here with Jessica Sudduth, who is the senior education manager at Ovations+ in NWA? Jessica, welcome to the podcast.

Jessica Sudduth: 0:43

Thank you so much for having me.

Jaclyn House: 0:45

Let's start with the mission of Ovations+.

Jessica Sudduth: 0:49

So our mission is to bring arts programs to youth across Northwest Arkansas and to make it accessible and inclusive to great communities through arts programming.

Jaclyn House: 1:00

And if you're as you're listening, and you might say, oh, Ovations+, is that new? Technically, yes, but no, because Ovations+ in NWA is a merger between Trich Theater and the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra. Is that right, jessica?

Jessica Sudduth: 1:16

Yes, so we are a new organization with a long history in the area. Oh, I like how you said that.

Jaclyn House: 1:22

So for people who are listening, why the merger?

Jessica Sudduth: 1:25

You know, as an arts organization you run into a lot of complications of the operational needs. To produce shows, to create events, it requires a lot of people on board, and so our goal with the merger was to come together and help put those resources together so we can create better programming and benefit from each other's work in the community.

Jaclyn House: 1:46

How does the merger help establish the organization as a premier arts organization here in Bentonville.

Jessica Sudduth: 1:53

When we bring people together who have an expertise in their field, we benefit from all of that information and knowledge. We have people with a long history of work in the arts and in education in our organization and together we're trying to create something that is really meaningful and impactful to our community. So a collaborative effort is always stronger than solo work.

Jaclyn House: 2:14

Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk about your role as Senior Education Manager. What do you do?

Jessica Sudduth: 2:19

I oversee the education program. So when we brought these programs together, Trike Academy had a youth training program where we do classes and student productions for students, and then we have an outreach program where we take plays out into the community. The Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra had a link-up program where they would do orchestra concerts for school children and then they had an Arkansas, the Arkansas Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, where students play in the orchestra. So all of these programs fall under education and I help the program managers to build successful programs and I help facilitate the communication between the programs and administration and we make sure that we're offering strong programs, trained teachers and quality experiences.

Jaclyn House: 3:00

Sure and as you're doing that? How do you, what factors do you take into consideration as you are pulling those educational tools together?

Jessica Sudduth: 3:07

I think it's really important to make sure that students have a solid experience right, and for me, that isn't just they have fun, that they are learning something in a way that is developmentally appropriate and that takes them to a place they want to go. So, for instance, if we have students who are coming in for a theater class, many of them are very excited to have a final product, to have a performance, to have some sort of experience at the end, and we want to guide students to working towards that in ways that are appropriate for their age and their experience and help bring them up to the next level of success.

Jaclyn House: 3:37

Sure, recently, you know they had the Oscars and one of the, I think it was a documentary that won, was called The Last Repair Shop. About connecting students with instruments and how important that was, and the winners of the Oscar were talking about man, it's just so important how much music can really impact children at a very young age. Do you feel that way? Do you have a personal connection with music and if you do, can you share that?

Jessica Sudduth: 4:07

I do. You know my background is music. I came into this merger as the outreach manager at Trike Theater, but I actually have a master's degree in music education. I taught in the schools and my history has been as a musician, and that for me was finding music as a safe place in my school and the opportunities that I was able to benefit from as a child who couldn't necessarily afford private lessons or all those experiences and it helped me see a different side of the world. It helped me learn how to express myself. It helped me find a community that I wouldn't have found otherwise, and before I worked at Trike I had a music studio in Rogers called Jubilee Music and one of my passions about that was how do we get these experiences to more students? And that's part of the merger right—it's bringing us together so we can more broadly reach the community.

Jaclyn House: 4:55

Yeah, my eyes always get a little misty when I talk about this, but same when I was in fourth grade. I'll never forget, I was new to the school district and it came down to you know, do you want to be in the band or do you want to do choir? And while I love to sing because I used to sing in church I really, really wanted to learn how to play the flute, but it was too expensive and so that was just not something that I was able to access at the time. But it's something now, as a parent, that I make sure that my kiddos can access, and that just makes me very, very proud, but also very sad that you know you can have that passion but not have the access to it. And that's what I love so much about being able to talk to you today is because the organization is really bringing access to the local community. Maybe talk about the importance of how you yourself have just kind of seen the impact of that.

Jessica Sudduth: 5:50

Absolutely. We are passionate about providing scholarships for students who need them, and you know you have to have funds to run a program, and so our programs are tuition based. But we are very generous with our scholarship opportunities because we want to make sure that students have that opportunity. I had a similar experience as a student. I was going through school and I was in choir. I was very passionate. I wanted to go on to a music degree and I was able to win a scholarship. There was a women's music club and they gave me a scholarship to get private lessons and that's something that really changed the trajectory of my life. And we're fortunate with APYO that we have the Arlene Warner Scholarship Fund that allows us to provide scholarships to students who are not able to afford tuition. We want to make sure that this is not an exclusive group that keeps kids out, but that we are bringing more music to more kids who want to be there.

Jaclyn House: 6:43

Sure, Maybe we have some listeners and they're like. You know, I'm new to the area, but I do have a kiddo who would love to get involved in theater or even the youth orchestra. What's the best way that parents can get connected to Ovations+ and NWA?

Jessica Sudduth: 6:57

This is the great time we're gearing up for summer. So we've got summer camps. We have summer camps for all ages, starting at four years old all the way up to 18. We have a more robust program in our theater summer camps and we're just starting to develop some of our music summer camps. So right now you can look for some. We call them skills classes, classes where we're developing skills, or creative drama, musical review, where we learn a lot of musical numbers and we perform them, and then we have some production classes. And then in the fall, if you're booked for the summer already in the fall we'll have auditions for APYO and we'll have a new season of classes. So every fall, every spring and every summer, you'll look for a new enrollment period and join us. You can find enrollment information at ovationsnwa.org.

Jaclyn House: 7:41

What makes you the most excited about the merger?

Jessica Sudduth: 7:45

I think I always get excited about synergy right Bringing people together who are passionate about the same things, who bring their artistry and creativity into a space to achieve a common goal, and my hope is that through this merger we're able to find more of those people and bring them into the same space and just create something really special for our region.

Jaclyn House: 8:05

Yeah, absolutely, and a lot of the events that take place you know, trike is located right here in downtown Bentonville and for the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, a lot of those events taking place in Bentonville on Thaden Schools campus, any events coming up in the near future that people can get tickets to? Okay, thank you, thank you.

Jessica Sudduth: 8:26

Yes, we just had our APYO concert last weekend, so you missed it, but not the last chance to catch these kids. They will have a side-by-side concert with the adult orchestra on March 27 at Crystal Bridges. Tickets for that are available on our website, ovationsnwa.org, or you can go directly to the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra website, and that will be a great opportunity to see our kids featured with the adult musicians, which is one of the things we want to provide for our students as those professional-level experiences. And then an amazing guest artist who is a 17-year-old prodigy on the piano. So all of those things coming together really speak to our passion for this program.

Jaclyn House: 9:05

What makes you excited about the arts and culture scene here in Bentonville? There's always something happening, and to know that you're on that team, that's a part of that. How does that make you feel?

Jessica Sudduth: 9:15

It's great to know that there is an interest right as people come into this area. We know there's so many transient people coming in for work, bringing in their experiences but also an expectation that we should have access to those things and knowing that the audience is growing, the interest is growing. It just means there's more opportunities for people who are passionate about their art to be supported in developing that and sharing it with the community.

Jaclyn House: 9:39

Yeah, jessica. Thanks so much for joining us today. Of course, you can keep up with Ovation Plus and NWA on social media and online. And don't forget, Visit Bentonville is here to help you navigate things to do, like those concerts and theater productions, where to eat and stay, what's going on in the city and give us a follow on social media and check out our website, visitbentonville.com. Thanks so much for listening.