[00:00:17] Speaker A: Hi, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. I'm Rex Nelson, Democrat Gazette senior editor, and we are going to be talking Conway today, specifically Create Conway, a fascinating organization. There is so much going on in Conaway, a city that recently taped a show talking about population trends with Skip Rutherford, a city now that has topped 70,000 people.
Really hard to believe, but a lot going on there. And like I said, we are going to take talk Create Conway today. We've got the founder of the organization, Jessica Crumb, with us, We've got Katie Wilson, the executive director of the organization, with us. So I'm not going to take for granted the folks listening to us know exactly what it is. So let's start with create Conway 101.
Katie, tell me exactly what it is, and then, Jessica, afterwards, I'll get in with you on how you came up with the idea and how you founded the organization. But what is it?
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Sure. Well, first off, thank you so much for having us today.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank y' all for being here.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Thank you. Create Conway is a nonprofit organization, and we are dedicated to amplifying Conway as a destination for arts, culture, and entertainment. And what we do to make that happen is we host community events, all with an arts focus.
Our largest program is Conway Art Walk. It's a first Friday arts festival that happens in downtown Conway. So we bring in lots of local and regional artists. We work with our community partners, we work with the local universities for volunteers. And then we just really get love getting everybody in the community out and involved.
And so really what it's about is just making Conway a really great place to live and visit.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: And it is that. And I've seen all kinds of amenities now being added in recent years.
Jessica, we had lunch recently and we talked about your journey, but it's really interesting to me.
I want you to talk a little bit about you a Pine Bluff native, but you go to Los Angeles and live the Southern California lifestyle. So talk about that decision and then what finally got you back to Arkansas?
[00:02:48] Speaker C: Hey, you'd be surprised how many people go for from Arkansas to Los Angeles and back again, right?
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:02:53] Speaker C: So I moved from Pine Bluff to Los Angeles to be a fashion designer and then had my first child, had my second child, and thought I need to get closer to the grandparents. So we came back to Arkansas 12 years ago, and that's when I started to see that the creative culture and economy in Conway really needed to be exposed.
The public didn't know really who, which creatives live here. Which musicians live here? What are they up to? What are they capable of? So we started this organization to put those creatives on display for the city of Conway, and it's evolved into what it is today.
We have a. Our big signature event is the Conway Art walk. It's on First Fridays and draws upwards of 2,000 people per month out to see live music and meet local artists. And so we've really, I think, set out to showcase what Conway has to offer, and people are excited about it.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: So art walk. I know that's really how you started with it, with an art walk.
Katie, if I were to come to Conway Art Walk, what should I expect?
Explain what I would see if I come over for one.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Sure. So what you're going to see are a bunch of artists who have their booths set up on the sidewalk. It is an outdoor event, so we closed down two streets in downtown for pedestrian traffic. So you're going to see lots of people walking outside. You're actually going to see some people walking around with a drink because we have an entertainment district in downtown Conway.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Now, a lot of cities have done that, and it is paying big dividends for a lot of downtown.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: It is.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: It is.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Yeah. We've definitely seen an impact. At Conway Art Walk, you're going to see live music, so we hire DJs and musicians to perform.
You'll see performance artists.
We have all different kinds of programming and partners who show up each month and offer something different.
Every theme or every month has a different theme. And so that just allows us to highlight a different facet of the art world. So we do a lot of work to make sure everybody's represented.
[00:05:03] Speaker C: I'd make sure you got your hands dirty if you came out right.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: How would I do that, Jessica?
[00:05:09] Speaker C: Sometimes we've got screen printers out there doing live screen printing that you can participate in. Other times we might have a film set out there where you can jump on the film set and pretend to be in a movie. Somehow. You would engage in the arts while you're at the event.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
You know, I kid about it because we throw that term creatives out a lot. And I said, you know, I guess since I write for a living, you could call me a creative, but I'm really a grizzled old newspaper man creative. Sounds a little too fancy. But, you know, you, Jessica, truly are a creative. You mentioned you were a fashion designer on the west coast, but you come back and now you have your own design studio. We'll get back to create Conway. But I'm interested in that. Tell me about how you made that shift and what you do there.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Moved to Conway. Told friends and family I'm a designer. And they said either one of two things. Will you design my logo for my new business or nonprofit or will you hem my pants because my pants are a little too long.
So I had to make a choice, Rex, on which direction am I headed here? Am I sewing for a living or do I want to go into this marketing and branding world? And honestly, that one was so appealing to me because there's such ripple effect when you create a marketing piece. The impact is immeasurable, you know, so I get to create something for a week or a month, and my team might be working on something for a few months that has decades of impact.
If it's a website or an email funnel or whatever we're creating. That ripple effect of impact is what really drew me to this industry and has. Has me still excited about it 10 years later.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: So how did, how did fashion design prepare you in a way for graphic design?
Interested in that?
[00:07:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I called myself a hybrid designer in la because when you're in the junior market, you need to understand graphic design. Most teenagers want a graphic on their T shirt or they want a print on their pants or whatever it is that they're wearing. There is some type of embellishment, and to have the manufacturer create that embellishment, you've got to design it first. And so at first I was giving direction to a graphic designer and then slowly started to build those skills myself, honestly, because time constraints, you know, you need the embellishment in 48 hours or less. There's no time to outsource it. You're going to figure it out. So I'm self taught in the graphic design world, but the fashion design piece is what led me to that. Because of the junior market.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Now, Katie, you've got a, you've got a background in public relations. I know. And tourism development work, things along that line.
What was the attraction to create Conway for you?
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Well, I'm a people person. I love people.
I love getting out there and meeting new people and connecting new people.
And then I'm an artist myself, so I'm an artist and I'm a consumer.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: What kind of work do you do?
[00:08:22] Speaker B: I paint and I'm a performance artist as well, so dabbled in a couple different things.
But, you know, this position was just something that combined all of my passions. You know, I'm passionate about the arts, about uplifting other artists. I'm passionate about bringing the community together and rallying around the arts.
And so it just kind of felt like this was the position that was made for me. It's everything that I love and I'm passionate about and it's in my hometown. I live in Conway. So, you know, I'm also passionate about making my hometown a better place for everybody to live.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Yeah. It would seem to me that Conway as a college town with the University of Central Arkansas, hendricks Central Baptist, 34 year colleges and universities there, would already have a basic foundation that you could build on. Is that right? That you probably wouldn't find in non college towns.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. You know, we have this population of young people who are looking for things to do, who are inspired to get involved.
So we work very closely with the universities, you know, especially uca. We have a pipeline where we work with university students to volunteer at Conway Art Walk.
We get student artists involved in the events as well. So yes, there's definitely. We are definitely lucky to have this population that are there and they are ready to get involved.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Yeah. I grew up in a college town. I grew up in Arkadelphia, as I told you when we were having lunch recently. And so I'm biased towards a college town. But it seems to me that when you're bringing in all of these new students every August, every September, it kind of renews the whole town. Do you get that feeling?
[00:10:11] Speaker C: Totally, totally. But I think what's been cool about Art Walk is this bridge between, you know, the college student and the artist in their 70s. You'll see, you'll see and meet and interact with both groups and everybody in between when you're at Art Walk. So it really, you know, we definitely have that youth energy. And you better believe our volunteers are coming from the high school and colleges.
But with the artists and the patrons, there is this really cool bridge of generations and ethnicities. All of the different people who. All the different people groups who exist in Conway show up at Conway Art.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Yeah. That is great to hear. Now you just mentioned Jessica, the high schools is create Conway doing work to pull down and get younger people interested in the arts.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: We absolutely are because there is a requirement now for volunteer hours for.
So yes, I'm working with some of the high school art teachers to get some high school students involved with Conway Art Walk as well.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: That's great to hear.
So both of you tell me kind of your dream of where it goes from here. I know you want to continue to grow the organization as Conway grows. So what do you see in the next five years, the next 10 years for create Conway.
[00:11:33] Speaker C: Sure.
So, you know, visit Fayetteville and. And their entire A and P Visit Fayetteville effort has inspired us so much. It's actually called Experience Fayetteville, which I love that brand.
So that's really my source of inspiration, is this attractive brand that really represents the city as a whole to the rest of the state and attracts people to our community to experience the community, especially, of course, when it comes to the arts. So. And I know that is a broad term, but what I really mean is the creative.
The mural installations that are in our downtown, the live music events that happen throughout our. Our restaurants and venues all week long, and even the cultural experiences like the Paloma Heritage Festival that happens every year in Conway.
So all of these really awesome creative experiences. My vision is that we're bringing people to Conway and that we see an uptick in our sales tax, tax revenue, uptick in our A and P revenue. And I'd love for our restaurants to have a longer, you know, lease period on average. You know, I want to see this economic development impact. That's. That's my big vision.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: You stole my. Go ahead, Go ahead. But you stole my next question. I'm going to get into economic arts is economic development in a minute, but go and add to that. I want you to add to that, Katie. Five, the next 10 years.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Sure. Well, I have this, and Jessica knows this. I have this big vision of all of Central Arkansas being a regional destination.
You know, I grew up in northwest Arkansas, and so a lot of people don't talk about the individual cities. They just mention northwest Arkansas. It's just one big region.
And central Arkansas has so much to offer.
And I can see Conway and Little Rock and North Little Rock and Greenbrier and some of our surrounding rural communities getting involved.
And it's all connected through the arts, and we're working together and we're making central Arkansas a destination for people to visit.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Yeah, and you are exactly right.
Northwest Arkansas has done such a better job through organizations such as the Northwest Arkansas Council than has Central Arkansas thinking regionally. And we've talked about this on this podcast before, but you ask somebody from that area where they're from, and they tend to say northwest Arkansas. Like you just did.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Like I just did.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: You didn't say, I don't know if you're from Fayetteville, Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale.
You just did that. You asked somebody from here, though, and they say, I'm from Conway or I'm From Little Rock or. I'm from Mayflower. I'm from Benton. I'm from Bryant.
That's right in between. And we don't tend to think regionally, so I like that.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Go well and create Conway. We're already pulling in artists from around the region. Yes, we love our Conway artists, and we want to uplift our Conway artists, but we really have a larger regional reach, and we've been more intentional this year pulling in those regional artists. So an artist from Little Rock participates in Conway art Walk, and now they're an ambassador for Conway Art Walk. An artist from north Little Rock comes to one of our mural launch events, and they see what we're doing for the community.
Delta Dental based here in Little Rock, they come.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: They.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: They sponsor, and they get involved in one of our events. And now they're an ambassador for our organization as well.
Excuse me. So we're. We're just growing it regionally, and we're just making central Arkansas one big, wonderful destination.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, that's. That's exciting to me. Let me. Let me get back, though, to economic development. I know that one thing that that con really been focused on, and I've written about it quite a bit, is really downtown development and having a true heart there. It's done well. A lot of restaurants downtown, a lot of shops now, a lot of traffic downtown.
But it seems to me you having downtown events like the art walk, Jessica, that you play a role in that downtown development, Making people in the area thinking of downtown is really a cool place to be.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: Sure. Well, when they come out for an event in downtown that we're hosting, we know economic data shows that on average, each individual patron will spend $31.47. You got it down outside of the cost of admission. Right. So that's. I mean, imagine what they're spending that on. A meal at Mike's place or, you know, a shirt at Kindred Mercantile. You know, they're spending money outside of the event they planned to attend in our downtown, at our retailers, at our restaurants. So we know that the impact of our. Of our. Our events just alone is tremendous. And that ripple effect you're talking about, they came on Friday, they saw something they liked. They think about, you know, what? I need to invite so and so down here to come back out and go shopping. Oh, I need to take so and so to this restaurant. And hopefully they come back again on Saturday or Sunday or the next Friday when there's not an art walk, but it's that brand awareness that keeping your city at the top of mind as a destination that I think will cause that ripple effect and bring even more economic development as a residual effect.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: Are you finding retailers staying open a little later on the nights of the art walk? Good.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yep. Our downtown retailers know it's first Friday, so they're going to stay open late. And often what they'll do, and we work with them on this, they'll pull out a little table outside and they'll have a space set up outside and they're pulling their customers inside. So it is, it's exciting to see more and more retailers staying open because they're feeling those positive impacts.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: Now First Fridays you do how many months of a year?
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Let's see.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: Eight months.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: Eight months.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Eight of the 12. Okay. Okay.
So eight, eight events a year that you can go on First Friday in Conway and enjoy all of that.
So what's the perfect way to plan that, Jessica? Get there, have dinner first, have dinner afterwards.
What's the way you should plan your evening?
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Well, next art walk, when you come to Glen.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: There we go. Get me dirty.
[00:18:06] Speaker C: Okay. Yes. When you. Okay, so when you get there, I want you to call me and I'm going to meet you at the corner of Chestnut and Oak street. And we're going to walk to Rogue Roundabout. And first thing I'm going to do is buy you a beer.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:18:20] Speaker C: And we'll be able to walk down the street with the beer. And I know that live music will start in electric alley about 5:30. So by the time we walk down there to the little Electric Alley, a live band will start playing. There'll be a group standing around watching. We'll listen for a few minutes and then we'll pop into Cassie's Cookies.
And we'll get a cookie and we'll split it because they're pretty big.
And then we'll keep on walking around. And as we get around the corner, we'll start seeing merchant tables and we'll stop and meet some of the artists and I'll introduce you to Janetta and tell you all about her artwork and who she is and her journey here, how she got here. And we'll keep walking and we'll stop by the studio. When we get to the studio, it's on the corner of Oak and Chestnut. We'll have made a loop by then. We'll go inside and you'll be shocked because there is a museum quality art gallery in there. We have a curator who has worked for the Smithsonian.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Oh wow.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: That helps to curate this gallery space. And I mean, it is top of the line. So we'll walk through and help you pick out a piece for your wife's birthday or anniversary, whatever, you know, holiday you have coming up. We'll pick you out a piece of artwork, let you make an investment and then we'll keep walking through meeting all the artists and by the time we get back outside, Creative Cove will be popping. Okay, this is when we're getting dirty.
There's going to be some paint, you know, and there's going to be chalk art on the sidewalk. There's going to be something hands on to get creative with. And so we'll make something and we'll be able to take it home with you and you can show your kids and your grandkids what you made. You'll have them put it on their fridge.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: There you go.
There you go. Now let's say I told you I wasn't, but let's say I am an artist, I live in the area. I want to get involved in this. How do I go about it?
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Katie, the easiest thing to do if you're an artist and you want to get involved is just Visit our website, create Conway.com and we have applications online that are really easy to fill out. Whether you're an artist, a food truck, a musician, or you want to sign up and volunteer or you're just a community member and you want to know how to get involved and offer something at Conway Art Walk. But that's going to be the best thing to do.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: I hope that there are community leaders out there who are listening to this and want to see something like this come to their town.
And so I almost encourage them. You know, everybody wants to have a coffee and pick your brain, but I'd encourage them to come out and volunteer once one night and really get a hands on feel for what it's like.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: Oh, I would love to see this idea spread around Arkansas.
[00:20:58] Speaker C: Me too. So if you're out there and you want to see this happen in your city, go
[email protected] and we'll show you hands on what it's like.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Katie, I love the fact in listing things and listing artists, you just mentioned food trucks. As a guy who likes to eat and writes about food a lot, I consider great chefs great artists, you know, themselves.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: So absolutely, yeah, the culinary arts.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Yeah, the culinary arts.
So I like that you are including that under the umbrella.
Usually. About how many food trucks are you going to have on an art walk?
[00:21:38] Speaker B: Generally we have between three and five, but we are Growing. So we are accepting more and more applications all the time to keep the festival growing. In fact, we even shut down an additional street this season to make room for more food trucks.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Oh, exciting, because one of the biggest events here in downtown Little Rock, where we're taping right now, has become the annual food truck festival.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: It shows how people like to eat.
The other example, I may have told you this when at lunch, but I always tell people I can spend all day writing a column on some policy issue, and I maybe hear from three people, and then you come in, and you're running late, and you got to knock out a column real fast, and. And you do something easy, like, where's the best barbecue in Arkansas? And you hear from 300 people on that call, not the one you work so hard on. So it shows that the way to our hearts in Arkansas does tend to go through our stomachs a lot of times sometimes.
[00:22:40] Speaker C: Have you had Risky Biscuits?
[00:22:42] Speaker A: I have not. Tell me about it.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. Last time they were at the Art Walk, I got this Cajun shrimp.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: I like the name.
[00:22:49] Speaker C: And it was just pouring over this homemade biscuit underneath. Oh, my gosh. And he put this BlackBerry marmalade on his. On the other half of the biscuit. I mean, the owner is so sweet. They sell out most of the time at Art Walk because they're so good, but he's only open a couple days a week because I think he still works a day job.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: You know, and that's how most of these creatives are. They're. They're starting this side business. They're in the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey, and an event like this gives them an opportunity to get their feet wet.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: You know what I love to see, though, is when somebody tries a concept like that with a food truck because it's relatively inexpensive, but they become such a success that they move into a brick and mortar restaurant with that start. And it would. I would think, with downtown Conway always trying to attract new restaurants that, you know, showcasing these to your crowds could, in a sense, be an incubator almost to people who might later have brick and mortar restaurants.
[00:23:54] Speaker C: Rogue Roundabout got started at Art Walk. He would. He was giving out beer at the first couple of Art Walks. Don't tell the police department, but this.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Is just between friends.
[00:24:08] Speaker C: So, yeah, he. No, he did sampling at every event for the first couple of years, and then the brick and mortar opened, and he already had a line out the door of people who wanted to support him because of the way that he had shown up for the community those couple years before they opened.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: And he continues to be an incredible partner with Conway Art Walk and keep.
Yes.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: That is great to hear. Well, I've got to tell you, when I did that population show recently, we tend to focus when it comes to growth on northwest Arkansas, but Conway grew at a faster percentage from a couple of.
For a couple of years than Bentonville even, which was amazing to me, and I don't see any slowing in that growth, to be honest with it. So with the city's growth, I would think that you would continue to see Creek Conway growth also.
[00:25:05] Speaker C: Well, thank you. We hope so, too. We're definitely looking for more partners and investors and funding. Partners. We are funded by grants, donations, and even individual patrons who help create Conway thrive and grow.
So we're excited to continue building those partnerships and. And seeing where it takes us.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: All right, well, we. We have. We have run out of time. I knew it would go quickly once we got started, and very exciting concept. Love everything that's going on in Conway right now, but particularly wanted to focus on. On this this week. So thank y' all for joining me. I really appreciate it.
[00:25:43] Speaker C: Thank you so much.
[00:25:44] Speaker A: Jessica Crumb, Katie Wilson, our guests, they're from Create Conway. And thank you for joining us for another edition of the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Sam.
