Arkansas Arts Council names 9 individual fellows

The Arkansas Arts Council has announced nine recipients of Individual Artist Fellowship awards of $4,000 each, in three categories.

Screenwriters:

◼️ Writer, director and producer Justin Blake Crum of Conway, director and producer of the Emmy Award-winning documentary, "Bell Ringer," which aired on PBS and the World Channel in 2017. He is currently finishing his debut feature film, "Papaw Land," which premieres in 2021.

◼️ Jasmine Serena Greer of Conway, associate professor of graphic design and interactive media at Arkansas Tech University at Russellville, co-founder and co-director of the Royal Film Festival in Benton.

◼️ Lauren Ferebee of Fayetteville, an MFA candidate in dramatic writing at the University of Arkansas and the author of several full-length and one-act plays.

Theater directors:

◼️ Morgan Hicks of Fayetteville, assistant professor at the University of Arkansas and co-founder of TheatreSquared, a professional regional theater company in Fayetteville, where she serves as the director of education and program development.

◼️ Justin A. Pike of Little Rock, artistic director at the Studio Theatre, summer theater camp director at the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff and director of the Young Players Second Stage program at the Royal Theatre in Benton. He also is president of the Arkansas Community Theatre Association.

◼️ Erika Wilhite of Fayetteville, founder of Artist's Laboratory Theatre in Northwest Arkansas.

Painters (except for works on paper):

◼️ Susan Chambers of Little Rock, who has had one-person exhibitions at the Argenta Gallery of the Laman Public Library, the University of Central Arkansas, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the Arts Center of the Ozarks. Her work has been included in the Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center and La Grange National Biennial at the Chattahoochee Valley Art Center.

◼️ Jody Travis Thompson of Fayetteville, an instructor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

◼️ Ray Allen Parker of Fayetteville, who spent 30 years as a senior merchandising manager, senior editor, creative programs development manager and photography director at J.C. Penney's nationwide headquarters, in Plano, Texas, before returning to Arkansas in 2010 to begin painting.

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