The fourth annual NPR Tiny Desk Contest: Arkansas Showcase is taking place Oct. 17 at The Hall in Little Rock. This year's concert will feature Little Rock-based artist Brae Leni, Jupiter's Flytrap from Conway and Rachel Fields and the Blues Therapy Group, based in Prairie Grove. Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani recently spoke with Little Rock Public Radio director of development Grace Zafasi over the phone about this year's Arkansas Showcase. She says it's been a privilege to work with so many Arkansas musicians.
Zafasi: Hi, my name is Grace. I'm the director of development at Little Rock Public Radio.
Nourani: Thanks for talking with me today, Grace. We're here to talk about something exciting. It is the fourth annual Arkansas Tiny Desk Showcase. Explain what that is and how does it feel for you to be going into four years of this?
Zafasi: Yeah, absolutely. It has been such a privilege to get to know artists throughout the last four years in Arkansas. We have had so much talent come through and it's been such an interesting experience being able to meet those artists, meet some of our top entries over the past four years.
And especially since it was something that was created from an idea with our board and with some of our community members and bringing it to life and then realizing how much it meant to the community and to the artists here locally was just something that it helped with the momentum and it helped with us continuing to provide this platform for local artists to engage with Arkansans, engage with the community in a way that hopefully they'll be able to meet new people.
Our listeners will be able to find new artists that they love and enjoy and that we'll just continue to grow the Arkansas artists industry. And it's been just such a pleasure.
Nourani: Yeah, 100%. And it's been a pleasure to be involved with this project. I think it's also just a great opportunity for the regional stations of Arkansas to get together and collaborate. So that has been super fun as well.
Zafasi: Absolutely. We couldn't have done it without you guys up at KUAF in Fayetteville and KASU in Jonesboro. I mean, a really fun partnership and one I think we've been able to grow in a statewide collaboration beyond just standard news, but in an environment of artists and culture and connecting in that way.
Because what's really so interesting to me about this is when you see all these artists come through, there's a variety of genres and you can really tell where people are from or where they're getting their inspiration from based on the region that they live in and the region that they grew up in.
And I think that that's a really unique part about Arkansas because, like plenty of other states, we have our own unique cultures, but you can definitely tell the vibe of Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas being a little bit more folksy. And then you get into central Arkansas and you have the opportunity to listen to a little bit more R&B and pop and more contemporary pieces. And then you get into Jonesboro and more of the Delta regions, you get this wonderful mix of jazz and blues.
And it's really fun to see that all in one fell swoop of these people are coming from all across the state to enter. And it's just such a fun time. And it's so interesting to listen to everybody and hear the different perspectives and not just the genres, but really what people are singing and what people are saying within their music and how culture and how what's happening around the world today is impacting their music. And that's just really inspiring.
Nourani: 100%. And I think you hit the nail right on the head there with just having that Arkansas experience because obviously this is related to the national Tiny Desk Contest through NPR, but it's obviously not quite the same thing. And for folks who may not know about the Arkansas Showcase and the specifics of that, maybe explain how this kind of takes it a step forward of highlighting Arkansas artists beyond submissions for the national Tiny Desk Contest.
Zafasi: Something that we did is we worked with our NPR Music liaison to receive all the Arkansas entries from that national contest that you mentioned. And we recognized that it was a very crowded environment. I mean, it's a whole national contest and there's so many amazing people in there and we get to hear the winner every year and it's great talent and great people.
And I just felt like we needed to look at our own people in our backyard and recognize that talent that does exist that doesn't always have maybe the access or as many followers or some of those factors that I feel like bigger organizations and bigger brands and bigger artists have the opportunity to maximize their platform, especially on a national platform.
They invest a lot of money for those entries. People do a ton of practice. They do a ton of equipment upgrades and things like that to make sure that their entry is the best because it is a competitive field, especially with the NPR Music.
And so one thing that we were looking at, especially with our judges, is looking beyond the technology and looking beyond all the shiny things that may exist in those videos and looking for the talent, looking for the instrumentality, the vocality and the roots of Arkansans that truly have an amazing voice, amazing talent and an amazing message. And it's not getting out there, not because of a lack of trying and not because of a lack of talent, but possibly because of a lack of access or affordability.
And we really saw that through several videos and several entries where the quality was not there, but the voice was, the talent was. And we're looking beyond that because Arkansas is full of talent and it's not always full of access. And that's something that we're hoping to provide with this platform.
Nourani: Can you tell us about the artists that will be performing at the concert this year? This is a cumulative showcase where we select three artists to perform.
Zafasi: The Arkansas Showcase is going to be held on Saturday, Oct. 17, at The Hall in Little Rock. The Hall is a pretty amazing venue on the historical West Ninth Street.
These three artists that were selected, they were selected through a process of, we had over 50 entries this year. And we had judges from across the state determine qualifications regarding their artistry, a couple of other factors about instrumentality, their ability to perform in front of an audience and all these other factors. And so it was very competitive. Lots of discussions. And ultimately we selected three artists and no one knew where they were from except for they knew they were from Arkansas.
And so it was really exciting is, I am thrilled to announce we have Brae Leni. Brae Leni is an artist from Little Rock. His genre is R&B and him and his band do an amazing job and he's got his own unique history that I'm sure the listeners will hear about soon and just his involvement with the Little Rock community and helping young people get access to vocal talent and things like that. It's just, he's a great, great leader in our community. And the song that got it through was the title "For You." And we're really excited for them. And if you haven't heard it, to go on YouTube and watch their entry.
And then the second one is Rachel Fields and the Blues Therapy Group. They are a blues, as it would say in their title, they're a blues genre. They're very, very good. I'm so excited that they will be also on the stage. They're from Prairie Grove. Yeah, that was really fun to find out. And the title that got them through was "Junk." And so Rachel Fields has one of those voices where the second you hear her, it's just like, "Oh, wow." I wish, if you're not a singer, she's one of those people that you wish you had her voice. Yeah. She's a total powerhouse.
And then last but not least is Jupiter's Flytrap. They are a jazz genre, but I would kind of put them in coffeehouse, Brazilian jazz. So I'm really excited for them to join the stage as well. They're from Conway, and the title that got them through is "Cup of Joe."
And so all three bands bring a really good mix of music, of genre, of identity from various places from across the state. And all together, it is going to be such a unique opportunity for people to come and see in a way that you can't necessarily go see this anywhere else.
And so I hope people will be able to join us and come discover new music, discover these people who have really put themselves out there and have done such amazing work and hard work to continue to practice. I mean, we've been talking about set lists and things over the past month to prepare for the showcase to give everyone a really good experience and to make sure that those who are coming are leaving with a sense of understanding of who these people are and why it's so important to support your local artists and public radio.
Tickets are going to be available at, going online to The Hall's website. And we do have a special discount code. So if anyone's a member of a public radio station, we'll have a 50% off code for you. And all you have to do is just reach out to your local NPR station and we will set you up with that.
And then there's different types of tickets. And so that is something to note is we have limited seating, so we have only about 200 seats available. We have standing room and then we'll have cocktail tables with high-top chairs available for reservation as well. And then we also have the mezzanine. So if you want to see, you better get it quick. If you're interested in standing and having a good time, you should be able to get those tickets.
Nourani: I'm sure people can find more information on the Little Rock Public Radio website.
Zafasi: Yes, we are going to have all the information available on our website at littlerockpublicradio.org. And we'll have more information about tickets and just continuing further additional details about all of our event updates on that website.
And so we're just really excited to have everybody join us and to showcase these amazing artists who have done such hard work and such an amazing job getting themselves to this point and being able to continue to try to reach other Arkansans interested in discovering new music.
I would also like to thank our sponsors for this event. So we have Lost Forty is one of our sponsors. We have Gibson Gives, who is a foundation and national foundation sponsoring us, as well as the Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. And so we just want to say thank you so much to our sponsors. And we'll have a continuation of acknowledgment and support moving on at the event as well. So we're just super thrilled to have so much community support, especially with our major sponsors and those donors here helping us locally.
Nourani: Thank you so much, Grace. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.
Zafasi: Absolutely. Thank you so much. It's an honor.
Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani speaking with Little Rock Public Radio director of development Grace Zafasi about this year's NPR Tiny Desk concert, the Arkansas Showcase. It will be taking place at The Hall in Little Rock on Saturday, Oct. 17. Ticket information and more information about the bands can be found at littlerockpublicradio.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.
