(Pictured, clockwise from top left) sand artist and storyteller Joe Castillo, wrongly imprisoned former professional boxer Dewey Bozella, artificial intelligence specialist Dr. Kathryn Conrad, and former NBA player and HOOPSLife founder Pat Burke headline the University of the Ozarks’ 2024-25 Walton Arts & Ideas Series (WAIS).
WAIS is made possible by an endowment established by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. All of the events begin at 7 p.m. and there is no charge for admission.
This upcoming academic year’s series will feature six events, beginning on Sept. 5 with Castillo, an artist, pastor, author and storyteller. Castillo’s latest adventure in creative expression is called SandStory. Drawing in sand on a light table, he is able to create a powerful, fluid way of doing illustrations for large audiences. Powerful, visceral, are just a few of the words that have been used in attempting to describe what Castillo does. He has performed in over 20 countries, for Fortune 500 companies, Presidents, Kings, World Leaders, TED, CBS, NBC, BBC and reached the finals on America’s Got Talent.
The series continues on Oct. 10 with a speaking engagement by Burke, who became Ireland’s first NBA player in the early 2000s. After a 12-year professional playing career, Burke and his wife Peyton in 2013 founded HOOPSLife, a youth-development program that promotes leadership and life skills through basketball to young boys and girls throughout the United States and in Ireland.
On Nov. 19, the Afrique Aya Dance Company, an African dance and drum group, will perform at the University. The Arkansas-based troupe will perform traditional West African dances, drawing on a rich tradition of story-telling and earth-based, lyric movement and music that convey a vibrant, universal narrative. The company has performed and taught residencies and workshops on the music and culture of West Africa in colleges and schools throughout the country.
The series continues on February 12, 2025, with a presentation from Bozella, a former professional boxer who spent 26 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. His story of courage, strength, faith, and perseverance began in the late 1970s, when he was wrongfully accused of murdering Emma Crapser, a 92-year-old resident of Poughkeepsie, New York. Sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, Bozella fiercely maintained his innocence throughout his ordeal at Sing Sing, and even refused the prosecutor’s offer of instant freedom in exchange for admission of guilt. But in 2009, more than a quarter century later, Bozella would reclaim his identity and his humanity when his conviction was vacated. He was the recipient of the 2011 Arthur Ashe Courage Award and is the author of the 2016 book, “Stand Tall: Fighting for My Life, Inside and Outside the Ring.”
On March 19, the Celtic folk band and dance troupe Celtic Breeze will perform at the University. Founded in Arkansas in 2005, Celtic Breeze performs traditional Irish and Scottish tunes along with American folk songs. In 2014, the group was chosen for inclusion on the Artist on Tour roster of the Arkansas Arts Council. Dancers from the McCafferty School of Irish Dancers in Little Rock will also take part in the performance.
The final event of the series will be on April 3 with a lecture from Conrad, a professor of English at University of Kansas and an AI technology and culture specialist. Conrad will explore the world of generative AI and the ethical issues that it entails from development to deployment, asking us to consider how we think about technological change and what we value about human work.
Topics: Community Events, Student Events, WAIS