Learn how to better protect your library's diverse collection (or personal home collection) and feel confident making book repairs — from repairing torn pages to reinforcing spines. Materials will be provided. Registration is required.

Meet your Book Doctor, Kimberly Young: Kimberly has worked in a wide variety of library settings across regionally, socially, and culturally diverse areas of the U.S. In the process, she's developed a deep appreciation of the role the community plays in the public library and vice versa. Her work focuses on collection development, material processing, and book care, but access to information, community engagement, and meaningful use of data have also been driving forces in her career. Outside of work, Kimberly enjoys travel, yoga, hiking, and paddle boarding.

SFA Gardens Seminar to Focus on Grafting Techniques

Dr. David Creech, Stephen F. Austin State University professor emeritus of agriculture and director of SFA Gardens, will discuss plant grafting techniques during the SFA Gardens seminar on Feb. 22 from 9 am-noon at the Brundrett Conservation Education Building, PIneywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St.
“Grafting is part art and part science,” Creech said. “We will look at the tools, skills and timing for both grafting and budding. Once you do several thousand, you can count yourself as skilled.”

The seminar will feature a brief PowerPoint overview, and then participants will try their hand at grafting. Rootstock, scions, grafting tape and rubber budding strips will be provided. Attendees should bring a small, sharp pocket knife. Participants will practice on a variety of plants and take home their own grafted specimens.
The cost is $30 for SFA Gardens members and $40 for non-members. SFA students may attend the seminar at no charge. To register, visit SFA Gardens web page, click on “About,” then “Store.” For student registration or further information, contact Kay Jenkins, environmental education programs coordinator, at (936) 468-1832 or kay.jenkins@sfasu.edu.

We’re excited to announce Freedom of Expression in the Abstract, a four-day residency featuring internationally acclaimed jazz and visual artist Kathy Kosins! This unique event, supported by grants from the City of Shreveport and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, combines music, art, and creativity in an engaging series of concerts and free clinics.


Key Events:
🎨 Free Creative Clinics (Bronson Hall):
Thursday, Feb. 6 @ 2 PM (Room 401):
Improvisation on Canvas

Thursday, Feb. 6 @ 6 PM (Room 108): Entrepreneurship in the Arts

Saturday, Feb. 8 @ 12 PM (Room 307): The Art of the Duo

🎶 Concerts with Talkbacks $5 & Free for Students (University Center Theatre):
Friday, Feb. 7 @ 7 PM
Saturday, Feb. 8 @ 7 PM

Tickets for concerts are $5 and free for all K-12 and university students with ID.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from and engage with an artist whose work spans music and modern abstraction.

For questions, email Robert.Alford@lsus.edu.

On top of a stacked lineup including the 40th anniversary screening of Fright Night with star William Ragsdale, the El Dorado Film Festival (EDFF) is adding three workshops for filmmakers to the mix during this year’s event, taking place on Feb. 26th-March 2nd at the South Arkansas Arts Center (SAAC), located at 110 East 5th St. in El Dorado, Arkansas. Purchase tickets online or at the SAAC box office.

“We have some incredibly exciting educational opportunities this year,” said Executive Director Alexander Jeffery. “Several working professionals who are paving the way in independent film have agreed to come to El Dorado Film Festival and share their knowledge with the attending filmmakers and audience members.”

The 2025 El Dorado Film Festival workshops include:

No Bullsh*t Financing and Distribution w/ Benjamin Weissner
You might have a million dollar idea, but without financing and distribution you won’t get far in the movie business. Benjamin Wiessner, producer and VP of Sales & Distribution at Vanishing Angle, will teach you the ins-and-outs of overcoming two of the biggest hurdles in filmmaking during this workshop.

Wiessner was named to Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Indie Film in 2012 as part of ornana films, where he began producing and distributing shorts and features with partners across the world. He has produced short films in both hand-drawn animation and live action, with awards at festivals including SxSw and Sundance. He has also worked on numerous features with premieres at Sundance, Berlinale, SXSW, Cannes, and Tribeca, including producing and self-distributing Thunder Road (SXSW 2018 Grand Jury Prize). He consults, mentors, and consoles numerous early career filmmakers. Raised by educators, he frequently speaks about filmmaking, distribution, and film marketing at film schools, festivals, and conferences from Cannes to Kazakhstan. In 2018, he co-founded the Short to Feature Filmmaking Lab and in 2020 he helped launch the Vanishing Angle Post Grant for short filmmakers.

Creating Independent TV w/ Picture Pool Productions

Join Nicholas Logan, Bridget Regan and Brittany Fallow to discuss how their company, Picture Pool Productions, is creating and distributing independent television. Plus, get a sneak peak of their latest project.

Nicholas Logan is an actor and producer best known for his work in Dark Winds, Last Stop in Yuma County, and I Care a Lot.

Bridget Regan is an American actress and producer. Her film credits include Devil's Gate opposite Milo Ventimiglia, John Wick, The Leisure Class, The Best and the Brightest alongside Neil Patrick Harris, Sex and the City, Canvas and the upcoming features Sarah's Oil opposite Zachary Levi and The Drawing opposite Tyler Labine. In television she presently appears on ABC's The Rookie where TVLine declared her performance as Monica Stevens "deserved her own spin-off series."

Brittany Fallow is a producer and line-producer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her feature film, The Fetch, won the Dark Matters Audience Award at the 2024 Austin Film Festival and her short film Addie and the Lightning Bugs won several awards on the festival circuit.

Storytelling With Sound
Sound design and a score can make a good film great and a great film greater. While both of these may seem complicated to the uninitiated, this workshop can give you the insights you need when you make your movie. Join sound designer Beso Kacharava (Euphoria, Ferrari), filmmaker J.C. Doler (The Fetch) and composer Amos Cochran (Mystery League) for a conversation about using sound to enhance storytelling.

ABOUT THE EL DORADO FILM FESTIVAL
Established in 2014, the El Dorado Film Festival offers a curated selection of independent cinema to audiences in El Dorado—a small town with a unique history in the arts. EDFF has brought filmmakers together and, in turn, created opportunities for those filmmakers to grow together. Look for narrative and documentary features along with short films from around the world. Past guests have included actor/director Joey Lauren Adams (Come Early Morning, Big Daddy) and producer Kristin Mann (What Happens Later, To the Stars).
Cash awards are given to the winners in the categories of: Best of Fest ($1,500), Pam Callaway Spirit of the Festival Award ($1,000), Best Narrative Feature ($500), Best Documentary ($500), Best Short Drama ($500), Best Short Comedy ($500), Best Arkansas Short ($500) and Best Southern Made Short ($500).

ABOUT THE SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER
SAAC is a complete visual and performing arts center that includes three gallery spaces, a ballet studio, a 207 seat theatre, a scene and costume shop, classrooms, a photography studio, and offices all of which provide AIE residencies, monthly gallery exhibits, community theatre productions, classes in visual arts, ballet, photography, drama, and music for people of all ages and people with special needs.