News

The Main Street Arts Council (MSAC) presents the 2024 Main Street Summer Theater Festival featuring six youth musical theater productions across northwest Kansas to be performed beginning late June through July.

More than 225 area youth, ranging from ages 5 to 18 years, have been busy rehearsing since mid-May on their respective shows in Atwood, Colby, Hoxie, Goodland, Oakley, and Quinter.

The 2024 Main Street Summer Theater Festival lineup includes:

June 28 at 7 p.m. (MT), June 29 at 3 p.m. (MT) - Annie Jr - Goodland

July 6 at 7 p.m., July 7 at 3 p.m. - Aladdin Jr - Atwood

July 13 at 3 p.m., July 14 at 7 p.m. - Shrek Jr - Quinter

July 12 at 7 p.m., July 14 at 3 p.m. - Willy Wonka Jr - Hoxie

July 19 at 7 p.m., July 20 at 7 p.m. - Honk Jr - Colby

August 2 at 3 p.m., August 3 at 3 p.m. - Alice in Wonderland Jr - Oakley

Participation in the productions is free for all youth thanks to the generosity of grant funders, business sponsorships, local fundraisers held by the show casts, and ticket sales.

Special thanks goes to grant funders: Dane G. Hansen Foundation, Logan; Nex-Generation Round Up for Youth, Lenora; ACE Foundation, Atwood; Thomas County Community Foundation, Colby; Walmart Store #1214, Colby; Gulick Family Fund, Goodland; Sherman County Community Foundation, Goodland; Walmart Store #2562, Goodland; Sheridan County Community Foundation, Hoxie; Logan County Community, Oakley; Gove County Community Foundation, Quinter; NexTech; and Midwest Energy.

The Arts Council is also grateful to the many other individual and business supporters in each community, all of whom can be found listed online at www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/msstf2024-supporters.

Full festival details including performance dates, locations and ticket information can be found online at www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/msstf2024. Those interested in sponsoring the festival can also do so online.

MSAC programming is made possible through the financial support of paid members, donations, and grants. To support MSAC in its endeavor to promote the arts, encourage creativity, serve the Arts community, and act as an advocate for the Arts, consider paid membership. Varying levels are available for both individuals and businesses, each offering a multitude of benefits and advertising premiums in acknowledgment of support.

Visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/join-us for more information and to join today. For more information, visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com, email mainstreetartscouncil@gmail.com or call Karl Pratt, executive director, at 785-675-1240.

The Main Street Arts Council (MSAC), Hoxie, is pleased to offer a total of 12 student internship positions to assist with the facilitation of its annual Main Street Summer Theater Festival held throughout the northwest Kansas region.

Funding for the positions is made possible through acceptance into the Nex-Generation Round Up for Youth Summer Internship Program.

This summer, the theater festival will include the full-scale youth musical productions of the following productions and locations (subject to change):

• “Annie Jr” - June 28 at 7 p.m. (MT), June 29 at 3 p.m. (MT) - Goodland
• “Aladdin Jr” - July 6 at 7 p.m., July 7 at 3 p.m. - Atwood
• “Shrek Jr” - July 13 at 3 p.m., July 14 at 7 p.m. - Quinter
• “Willy Wonka Jr” - July 12 at 7 p.m., July 14 at 3 p.m. - Hoxie
• “Honk Jr” - July 19 at 7 p.m., July 20 at 3 p.m. - Colby
• “Alice in Wonderland Jr” - August 2 at 3 p.m., August 3 at 3 p.m. - Oakley

Participation in the theater festival productions is free to all area youth ages 5 to 18 years and made possible from the generosity of area grant funders, business and individual sponsors, and fundraising efforts of the casts via the post-performance Bake Sales.

Full festival details will be posted and updated online at www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/msstf2024 this spring.

The arts council is looking for fun, creative, and hard-working candidates to fill the internship positions. Two interns per show will be assigned to a primary show location to assist on the ground with all aspects of the production. While each intern will be dedicated to one particular show location, they will be required to work the entirety of the internship program (May 30 through August 9, 2024), assisting with all six shows throughout the festival region.

To be eligible, students must be in college or high school (age 16+) and must be from or attending school in the following Northwest/North Central Kansas counties: Barton, Cheyenne, Cloud, Decatur, Ellis, Ellsworth, Gove, Graham, Jewell, Lincoln, Logan, Mitchell, Norton, Osborne, Ottawa, Phillips, Rawlins, Republic, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Saline, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Thomas, Trego, and Wallace.

The base wage for each internship is $12.00 per hour.

The interns will assist the festival staff in the preparation and rehearsing of full-scale youth musical productions. The interns will learn all of the ins and outs of putting on a production and gain valuable hands-on experience throughout the process. They will assist with show design, direction, fundraising, running rehearsals, building sets/props, costuming, lights/sound, ticket sales, marketing and more.

A valid driver’s license is preferred as travel throughout northwest Kansas will be required; accommodation will be made to assist those without a driver’s license as needed.

Applicants must apply online at https://connectnwk.org/nexgen/ by March 1, 2024. Qualified candidates will be contacted to conduct an interview.

For more information and to get involved, visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com or contact Executive Director Karl Pratt at mainstreetartscouncil@gmail.com.

About the Main Street Arts Council

The Main Street Arts Council is an organization dedicated to promoting the arts, encouraging creativity, serving the arts community, and acting as an advocate for the arts. We strive to be a model organization for the Northwest Kansas region by ensuring access to the arts for all ages, encouraging a community passion for the arts and successfully supporting, partnering, and collaborating with others committed to the arts. Learn more at https://mainstreetartscouncil.com.

About Nex-Generational Round Up for Youth

Our mission is to educate northwest and north central Kansas students about local career opportunities by providing and supporting programs in career development, entrepreneurship, and internship. Through these efforts, we hope to foster a positive sense of community and encourage youth to remain or return home to prosper. Learn more at https://www.nex-generation.org/.

The Main Street Arts Council (MSAC) invites all area art enthusiasts to the annual “Main Street Art Walk” events in Quinter and Hoxie this summer.

The Quinter Art Walk is scheduled for Friday, July 15 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the Hoxie Art Walk is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 19 from 5 to 8 p.m. Both events will take place in the downtown business districts.

Enjoy an evening of art, food, fresh air and fun as you make your way through local businesses viewing the artworks of the area artists.

Silent auctions featuring donated works from the participating artists will be set up at both events with funds raised to support area student scholarships to study the arts and music.

The Arts Council along with volunteers from both communities are working with area food restaurants and food vendors to be open during both events.

Quinter Art Walk attendees are encouraged to make their way to the Quinter Jr./Sr. High School Auditorium following the art walk event to enjoy the local performance of Aladdin Jr. at 7 p.m. The performance is one of six that the Arts Council is producing this summer as part of the annual 2022 Main Street Summer Theater Festival.

Additional productions are scheduled throughout the summer beginning with “The Jungle Book Kids” in Goodland on June 24 and 25, along with shows in Atwood, Hoxie, and Colby, respectively. View the full schedule including dates and ticket information online at www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/msstf2022.

Area artists interested in exhibiting at the art walk events as well as businesses interested in hosting artists are requested to register online at www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/artwalk2022.

MSAC programming is made possible through the financial support of paid members, donations, and grants. To support MSAC in its endeavor to promote the arts, encourage creativity, serve the Arts community, and act as an advocate for the Arts, consider paid membership. Varying levels are available for both individuals and businesses, each offering a multitude of benefits and advertising premiums in acknowledgment of support.

Visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/join-us for more information and to join today. For more information, visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com, email mainstreetartscouncil@gmail.com or call Karl Pratt, executive director, at 785-675-1240.

Students in 8th grade through high school are invited to attend a free songwriting workshop on Wednesday, March 23 from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. at Bottle KAP Studios – 721 Main St. in Hoxie.

The workshop will be conducted by Los Angeles-based artists Eric Flemons, a singer, songwriter, and performer, and Amber Allgyer, a director, choreographer, and performer.

The event is offered through the Lovewell Institute for the Creative arts and funded by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.

Flemons and Allgyer have worked in Kansas, including Concordia, for multiple summers, conducting week-long Lovewell musical theater day camps where students come together to conceive, write, and perform an original piece of musical theater in just 5 days.

The workshop on March 23 will give students an introduction to the Lovewell method and provide an hour of fun and creativity. Participants will work together with the artists to write a song in just an hour.

There is no cost for the workshop. Anyone interested is welcome to attend. No previous musical experience or RSVP is required.

The artists will return to Hoxie the week of June 13-17 to conduct this summer’s full camp. Registration for that is online at Lovewell.org.

The Main Street Arts Council (MSAC), Hoxie, is pleased to offer several student internship positions to assist with the facilitation of its annual Main Street Summer Theater Festival held throughout the northwest Kansas region.

This summer, the festival will include full-scale youth musical productions in Atwood, Colby, Goodland, Hoxie and Quinter. The program is free to all area youth ages 5 to 18 years to participate. Full festival details include show titles, dates, auditions, etc., will be posted and updated online at www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/msstf2022.

The arts council is looking for qualified candidates for two separate internship programs:

• Marketing Intern offered through the Fort Hays State University/Dane G. Hansen Foundation Internship Program - one (1) position; open to FHSU college students
• Student Director Interns offered through the Nex-Generation RoundUp for Youth program - six (6) positions; open to high school (ages 16+) and college-aged students

The Marketing Intern will gain hands-on experience with all aspects of promoting the festival through various mediums including web, email, social media, print, news, and radio. The position is open to students of all backgrounds, with preference given to marketing, graphic design, or communication (public relations/advertising) majors.

Applicants must apply by February 1, 2022, online at https://fhsu.joinhandshake.com/login.

The Student Director Interns will assist the show director in the preparation/rehearsing of a full-scale children's musical in one of our participating communities. The intern will learn all of the ins and outs of putting on a production and gain valuable hands-on experience throughout the process. They will assist with show design, direction, fundraising, running rehearsals, building sets/props, costuming, lights/sound, ticket sales, marketing and more.

Applicants must apply by March 1, 2022, online at https://connectnwk.org/nexgen/.

The Main Street Arts Council is an organization dedicated to promoting the arts, encouraging creativity, serving the arts community and acting as an advocate for the arts. We strive to be a model organization for the Northwest Kansas region by ensuring access to the arts for all ages, encouraging a community passion for the arts and successfully supporting, partnering and collaborating with others committed to the arts.

For more information and to get involved, visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com or contact Executive Director Karl Pratt at mainstreetartscouncil.com.

This week, the Main Street Arts Council is hosting an artist-in-residence to conduct an exciting program called “Stories to Song” in which students interview local “community elders” and through the course of the week, write and perform a song inspired by the elder’s stories.

Hoxie High School English Teacher Mrs. Peggy Eland has partnered with the arts council to conduct the program with each of her six English sections participating. The artist-in-residence, Aaron Fowler, of Wichita, is facilitating the program this week at the high school. Fowler, through the nonprofit organization, Sing It Out, INC, travels across the nation conducting this program in rural communities each year.

Stories to Songs is a powerful oral history project that engages elders in rural communities with middle and high school students in a process called collective songwriting. The process involves students interviewing elders and then writing songs based on those elders’ stories. The project develops critical thinking and learning skills and engages students in a community building experience that develops deep community bonds. It enhances student learning, addresses problem solving skills through the arts and nurtures creativity and culture awareness through a powerful learning experience. Elders are valued and given an opportunity to meet and share with students, in a relaxed setting, important memories in their life.

On Monday of this week, six community elders were interviewed by Mrs. Eland’s English classes. The interviewees included Harry Joe Pratt, Linda Frazey, Ruth Pieschl, David Leopold, Ed Heim, and Marcella “Sally” Cameron.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the students will be creating a song inspired by their interviews with their respective elder. They will learn the mechanics of songwriting, including the poetry and writing structures of lyrics as well as the musical composition components. The week culminates on Friday, Jan. 14 with a public performance in the High School Auditorium to be held during the last hour of the day at around 2:51 p.m. The public is invited and encouraged to attend this event to enjoy the creativity of the students’ works, honor the elders and their experiences as well as the Hoxie community.

The program was made possible in part through a grant by the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, a sub-entity of the Kansas Department of Commerce, as well as a $500 grant from our local Sheridan County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Greater Northwest Kansas Community Foundation, Bird City.

The Main Street Arts Council is an organization dedicated to promoting the arts, encouraging creativity, serving the arts community and acting as an advocate for the arts. We strive to be a model organization for the Northwest Kansas region by ensuring access to the arts for all ages, encouraging a community passion for the arts and successfully supporting, partnering and collaborating with others committed to the arts.

For more information and to get involved, visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com.

By Karl Pratt, executive director

More than 20 artists of all ages will be set up at area businesses this Friday, Aug. 27 from 5 to 8 p.m. for the Main Street Arts Council’s annual Main Street Art Walk even in downtown Hoxie.

This year’s roster includes the following (subject to change):

• Lisa Stone, Watercolor & acrylic paintings, Oscar's
• Nancy Wolff, Acrylic pours on wood, canvas and ceramic tiles, 7 Rhodes Beef Co.
• Brianna Glaze, Watercolor & acrylic paintings; woodburn pieces, 7 Rhodes Beef Co.
• Kathy Launchbaugh, Quilted art pattern, H&S Sales & Repair
• Sheridan County Historical Society & Mickey Museum, Pieces from their collection, H&S Sales & Repair
• Sally Cameron, Quilted works, First State Bank
• Robin Delzeit, Balloon Artist, First State Bank
• First State Bank Staff, Wooden bank art project for kids, First State Bank
• Russell Hull, Oil paintings, Equity Bank
• Kristin Johnson, Gourd Art, Equity Bank
• Karl Pratt, Acrylic & watercolor paintings, drawings, Bottle KAP Studios
• Diane Pratt, Varied works, live demonstration, Bottle KAP Studios
• Adleigh Ziegler, Varied works, live demonstration, Bottle KAP Studios
• Regina Baldwin, Varied works, Bottle KAP Studios
• Tatumn Kaiser, Varied works, live demonstration, Bottle KAP Studios
• Rebel Mahieu, Mixed medium paintings & sculptures, Community Impact Center
• Ethan Jay & Corbin Jay & Colby CC Art Students, Face painting; caricatures; encaustic demonstrations, Community Impact Center (outside)
• Donna Eastman Liddle, Watercolor paintings, Cuts Colors & Curls by Jennifer
• Jackie Campbell, Ceramics, Eland Law Office
• Jessica Campbell, Earrings and vinyl art, Eland Law Office
• Hoxie High School Art Students, Face painting & caricatures, Eland Law Office (outside)
• Jesse Franich, Wood Art, Pratt Real Estate
• Ellen Pratt, Hand-knitted items, Pratt Real Estate
• Erica Kinderknecht, Varied works including colored pencil drawings, hand-painted stones & Carousel horse sculptures, The Sheridan Sentinel

In addition to viewing the artwork, which ranges from hand-knitted clothing and quilted items to watercolors, acrylics, ceramics and more, the evening will also feature a variety of activities for all to enjoy, including live music, art demonstrations, face painting, caricature and portrait artists and even balloon art!

New to the activities list this year will be a sidewalk chalk contest in which teams of up to four will recreate a classic artist’s masterpiece (of their choice) in designated squares along Main Street. Teams can register in advance at www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/artwalk or sign up at the event to participate. Participants have from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. to complete their masterpieces before they are judged. The winning team will receive a private art lesson with local artist Diane Pratt.

The evening will also include a silent auction to raise scholarship funds for area students to study the arts and music, raffle drawings at the end of the night for those who make it around to all artist exhibits, and delicious food options from Mama Deb’s Cookin’ and Blue Blaze Pizza food trucks which will be set up between Equity Bank and First State Bank.

All MSAC programming is made possible through the financial support of paid members, donations, and grants. To support MSAC in its endeavor to promote the arts, encourage creativity, serve the Arts community, and act as an advocate for the Arts, consider paid membership. Varying levels are available for both individuals and businesses, each offering a multitude of benefits and advertising premiums in acknowledgment of support.

Visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/join-us for more information and to join today. For more information, visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com, email mainstreetartscouncil@gmail.com or call Karl Pratt, executive director, at 785-675-1240.

By Karl Pratt, executive director

The Main Street Arts Council invites all area art enthusiasts to the annual “Main Street Art Walk” scheduled for Friday, Aug. 27 from 5 to 8 p.m. in downtown Hoxie.

Enjoy an evening of art, food, fresh air and fun as you make your way through Main Street viewing the artworks of area artists.

The evening will also feature several art demonstrations, a sidewalk chalk drawing contest, face painting, 5-minute portraits, and live music by Ellen and Emma Weiner. The First State Bank is once again hosting an art project for youth.

A silent auction featuring donated works from the participating artists will be set up and available for bidding from 5 to 7:45 p.m. at Bottle KAP Studios, 721 Main St. Funds raised will be pooled with those from the Quinter Art Walk to help support area student scholarships to study the arts and music.

Raffle drawings for several prizes will be held once again. To participate, pick up a map from any artist, visit all artists to view their works and acquire their signatures, then drop off the map at Bottle KAP Studios (with participant name and contact information) for a chance to win. Prizes include a $50 gift card to The Elephant Bistro & Bar, a Family-level membership with the Main Street Arts Council, and an art supplies gift basket.

Food vendors, including Mama Deb’s Cookin’ and Blue Blaze Pizza will be set up between Equity Bank and First State Bank. Picnic tables, provided by the Sheridan County Amusement Company, will be available for dining needs.

All MSAC programming is made possible through the financial support of paid members, donations, and grants. To support MSAC in its endeavor to promote the arts, encourage creativity, serve the Arts community, and act as an advocate for the Arts, consider paid membership. Varying levels are available for both individuals and businesses, each offering a multitude of benefits and advertising premiums in acknowledgment of support.

Visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com/join-us for more information and to join today. For more information, visit www.mainstreetartscouncil.com, email mainstreetartscouncil@gmail.com or call Karl Pratt, executive director, at 785-675-1240.

At this time, we have decided to cancel the Atwood Art Walk event originaly schedule but hope to schedule another event in the future. Thank you!

If you haven't done so yet, be sure to register for our Hoxie Main Street Art Walk to be held Friday, Aug. 27 from 5-8 p.m.

Artists, business hosts and food vendors are all encouraged to sign up. Learn more and register!

We are excited for our first-ever Art Walk in Quinter scheduled for tomorrow (Sat., July 10) from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in downtown Quinter, prior to our performance of Disney's 101 Dalmatians at 8:30 p.m. at the high school auditorium!

A silent auction of donated art pieces will be held throughout the event inside Center Pivot Restaurant & Brewery. Funds raised in Quinter will be pooled with those from our Atwood and Hoxie art walks and be made available as scholarships for area youth to study the arts!

Join us for a full-evening of the arts in Quinter! Thank you to our area artists who will be exhibiting and the business hosts listed below!