Kellams: Now in its third year, the Creative Exchange Fund, administered by The Medium in downtown Springdale, supports local artists by providing financial support and a space to take creative risks. KUAF is partnering with The Medium to profile some of this year's 37 multidisciplinary artists. We'll hear about their art, their process and what it means to be a creative in Northwest Arkansas right now. Jeremy Williams is a choreographer and producer originally from North Little Rock, with experience working in theater in New York and Oaxaca. Williams currently works as director of the Argenta Contemporary Theatre in North Little Rock. He'll be at The Medium Saturday, hosting a unique, interactive performance. He spoke with Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani ahead of this weekend's event. He says there's amazing theater throughout Central Arkansas, and he was grateful to begin his professional career there.
Jeremy Williams: Coming back now, the scene has just grown even more. It's amazing to see — there's more theaters, more theater companies, more training opportunities and just more opportunities for folks of all kinds of backgrounds, experiences from really new to really experienced professionals to come together, which is exciting for me. I joined the team at Argenta Contemporary Theatre last September after Coburn Goss was hired as the new artistic director. We're the next generation of leadership after one of the co-founders, Vincent Calarco, retired. It's been a great moment of coming home, being re-welcomed.
Sophia Nourani: Well, Arkansas is happy to have you back. You're talking a lot about Central Arkansas, but you're working with The Medium. How did that get started? How did that process start?
Williams: Like many artistic endeavors, it was an accidental discovery. I was doing research for a presentation that I was co-leading at the National Dance USA conference last year on artist residencies. My colleague Monique Martin and I were really diving in to get a broader sense of some scope and some residencies that we didn't know about in the field. That's how I came upon it. I was looking for residencies I didn't know about, and then I happened to see this — the CFX residency. There are so many different categories that you can apply for, and one of them is a producer category, and that is really rare. Producer is one of the many hats I wear — I'm a director, I'm a choreographer, playwright, maker — but producer is also one of them. Seeing that they had framed this around not producing an art piece, but producing a community experience, which is really exciting. So I tossed my idea in and luckily got picked.
Nourani: Have you ever been to Northwest Arkansas before?
Williams: Growing up in Central Arkansas, of course, going back and forth to visit friends. I did one semester at the University of Arkansas for undergrad, and then later when I was with the Doris Duke Foundation, I got to work with TheatreSquared as one of our grantees on a project called Building Bridges. It's about bringing U.S. Muslims and our neighbors closer together through arts and cultural experiences and storytelling exchange. It was so great to have Arkansas represented in that national cohort doing great work of community building and strengthening. So I've had a few touchpoints, but it's been a while since I've been up there. I'm excited to spend a few days in residence.
Nourani: Well, TheatreSquared is still a pillar for local theatre in Northwest Arkansas. You mentioned Building Bridges — tell us about the project you're going to be having at The Medium.
Williams: It's also called Building Bridges. This is an ongoing theme in my life and something I'm really just interested in. I love learning about different ways people like to build bridges, and how can we go from two different points and find connections. It's going to be an hour-long event — people can come and go. The audience is welcome to watch or to participate. There'll be some prompts, some questions to think about. Those answers will be gathered together and displayed on the wall while I and a couple of other folks will be improvising physically, doing some dance improvisations and physical improvisation, responding to those same prompts. But instead of writing, we'll be doing it physically and exploring what that means — either in solos, maybe in duets, group work. We'll see. The audience will be invited to join us if they would like at any time. No one needs to have a dance experience or performance experience, nor is it expected. It's a gentle invitation to come and play in the space with us if you'd like.
Nourani: That's so cool and different from maybe someone with a traditional theater background — the audience doesn't typically participate. That's such a cool concept.
Williams: Oftentimes in performance, we can have this false divide between audience and artists, but we're all there for the same reason. We're all there in the same space. We're all experiencing the same story together. Granted, we have different roles in that. I enjoy these kinds of play experiences where we can maybe dissolve that divide a little bit and have a stronger bridge of connection between us. It helps us as artists to let those defenses down and really play freely with an audience.
Nourani: As an audience member, when I go to these things, I always just enjoy the spontaneity of it all. You don't quite know what's going to happen, especially when it's prompted by any thought or a feeling or ideology that might come to an audience member or someone who feels like they want to participate — that can bring up a lot of thoughts and feelings that maybe other people won't agree with.
Williams: I'm in a personal moment of still dealing with culture shock of returning to living in the U.S. full time. Going back and forth during those years a lot. So what's been going on since I've been gone? What's been going on in those seven years? It's different. The outside perspective has been so helpful in so many ways. But coming back, daily life is different than it was before when I was living here. I'm noticing some more separation, maybe out of fear. Speaking of this divide — you either have to agree completely or you're out. It's kind of an all-or-nothing. We've lost a lot of overlap and gray area, these connectivities between different locations, different ideas. It's a great time for all of us to remember that that's possible. Maybe we don't need to change our opinions — this isn't an event about that, about change your mind, or agree or disagree. It's about how can we connect, even with all of that going on. Connection is still possible in meaningful ways. Maybe it's small, maybe it's big, maybe it's internal.
Nourani: Where can people find more information about the event?
Williams: We will be at The Medium Saturday, May 23, from 7 to 8 p.m. Information is currently on the museum website.
Nourani: We're excited to have you in Northwest Arkansas, Jeremy. Thank you so much.
Williams: It's been a pleasure talking with you.
Kellams: Jeremy Williams is a North Little Rock native and theatre producer who spoke with Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani about his upcoming event at The Medium in Springdale. It's a free, interactive performance that takes place Saturday evening from 7 until 8. The Creative Exchange series is produced by KUAF Public Radio in partnership with The Medium. Support for the project comes from the Tyson Family Foundation. The Medium and the Creative Exchange Fund are projects of the Creative Arkansas Community Hub and Exchange, or CACHE. For more about this project and the 2025-26 recipients, you can visit themedium.org.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
