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The Art of Travel

Critics reviews, audience reviews, cast & crew.

Thomas Whelan

Christopher Masterson

Conner Layne

Brooke Burns

Darlene Loren

Johnny Messner

Christopher Loren

James Duval

Taylor 'One Ball'

Shalim Ortiz

Carlos 'Bullet'

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THE ART OF TRAVEL Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf

For some, traveling is defined as movement from location to location in as little time as possible. For others, traveling is merely the first step toward greater self-exploration, where adventures can teach and motivate the soul to higher plains of consciousness. "The Art of Travel" is an indie film that explores the very nature of wanderlust, and how it informs character and transforms life. It's filled with familiar dramatic footprints, but "Art" remains something worthwhile and unexpectedly delicate.

Catching his fiancée in a compromising position, Conner Layne (Chris Masterson) ditches his betrothed on their wedding day and boards the first plane out of the country. Ending up in

Nicaragua , Conner is overwhelmed by his vacation decision, but quickly soothed by his fellow travelers, who push the young man to challenge himself by abandoning his comfort zone and taking on new challenges. When a week away soon becomes years, Conner struggles with the concept of settling back down and returning home, trying to imagine a world without the constant life-altering experiences he's grown accustom to.

"Art of Travel" is truly about the simple pleasures in life. It's an unpretentious motion picture, endeavoring to construct the journey of a sheltered teenager as he grows into a knowing, mentally-porous adult. The direction by Thomas Whelan reaches for poetry and achieves an even flow of culture shock humor and gentle Zen-like absorptions of experiences. It's a sturdy directorial job for a difficult movie; one that wants to spread the idea of travel as the ultimate cotton swab of life, but also engages in good times to keep the less spiritually open audience member awake.

The lighthearted moments of Conner's early days in foreign lands hold the most wildly appealing material. Scenarios with Conner facing erratic shower facilities, the culture of petty crime, and his interactions with some sexually-minded fellow travelers lend the film some decent laughs before it all starts to slip into solemnity. Once Conner meets up with a pair of Americans (Brooke Burns and Johnny Mesner) looking to clear an unimaginable path through dense South American forest, "Art" settles down and begins to itemize Conner's revelations and obstacles. The transition isn't jarring, but a certain playfulness is left behind the film could've emphasized further down into the story.

While I'm not convinced Masterson has the gravitas to sell Conner's more insular struggles of the soul, I did enjoy his performance, which does thankfully pull the actor away from his "Malcolm in the Middle" legacy and into more promising actorly fields of emoting. He's a solid center for this relaxed movie, helping the story get through thin-ice plot turns (an encounter with violent jungle Guerrillas lacks credibility) and substantial time jumps.

"Art" eventually turns romantic, focusing on Conner's relationship with traveling pal Anna (Angelika Baran), and steps even further away from what makes this movie feel special: the restless soul. The arc is performed nicely and it fits a very specific thematic need in Brian LaBelle's script, but it also restrains the picture from further wonder. "Art of Travel" is a dynamic travelogue, with gorgeous locations and fascinating psychological issues to address, so it seems only appropriate that when it stops to explore a stagnant life, the film feels impatient to move on to the next adventure.

The Art of Travel

With a title guaranteed to draw swarming hordes of Town & Country subscribers, "The Art of Travel" is a coming-of-age picaresque that features a continent's worth of breathtaking miles, but not in the company of people you want to spend that much time with.

By John Anderson

John Anderson

• Oscars: ‘True Power of the Human Spirit’ the Theme of Best Picture Nominees 8 years ago
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With a title guaranteed to draw swarming hordes of Town & Country subscribers, “The Art of Travel” is a coming-of-age picaresque that features a continent’s worth of breathtaking miles, but not in the company of people you want to spend that much time with. Overacted and overblown, pic will underwhelm commercially, with theatrical perhaps limited to friends and family. DVD release is set for Sept. 2.

It certainly starts off with a bang, though, at one of the cinema’s great non-weddings: Set to marry the lovely, faithless Kate (Alexandra Breckenridge) in front of their collected kin, Conner Layne (Christopher Kennedy Masterson) says “I don’t” in no uncertain terms. He then proceeds to get drunk and catch the next plane available, which happens to be going to Managua, Nicaragua. There he will become a man — or least, less of a boy.

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Helmer Thomas Whelan (who wrote the script with producer Brian LaBelle) takes a leisurely amount of time getting his movie where it intends to go, which is on a grueling, yearlong trek through the Darien Gap — which is not, in fact, a clothing store in Connecticut, but rather a virtually impassable stretch separating Panama and Colombia.

The wanderlusting Conner is drafted onto the team — which includes such grizzly youth as One Ball (James Duval), Bullet (Shalim Ortiz) and Two Dogs (Jake Muxworthy) — by Christopher and Darlene Loren (Johnny Messner, Brooke Burns), who seem to have “white slavery” written all over them, but who somehow gain the milky-white gringo’s trust. The journey involves machetes and poisonous snakes, practical jokes and guerrillas, maturity and temper tantrums. And a romance between Conner and Anna (Angelika Baran), who, in case this was all sounding too genteel, is nicknamed “G-Spot.”

It would be nice to say the trip represents Conner’s rite of manhood, but he doesn’t change too much from the precociously clever, jungle-marching Doogie Howser he is at the beginning — aided and abetted by a script with no aversion to remarkable coincidence and convenient happenstance: When the team’s campsite is invaded by guerrillas, Conner disarms their commandante by quoting from a Bible-like book of revolutionary dogma Conner heisted from one of Managua’s flea-bag hotels. Not only does Masterson look like a Boy Scout, but his character knows how to “be prepared!”

Whelan’s directorial technique involves having his cast eschew nuance for rhetorical strong-arming, something to which most auds will likely be resistant. The landscapes are lush and beautiful, and make up for some but not all of what’s misfiring dramatically.

Production values are tops.

• Production: A First Look Studios release of a Brenster Prods. presentation, in association with To Be Determined Distribution. Produced by Kyle Dean Jackson, Carol Masterson, Emyr G. Graciano, Brian LaBelle, Christopher Kennedy Masterson. Executive producers, Robert Lazo, Bob Costano. Co-producer, Kathryn Soler. Directed by Thomas Whelan. Screenplay, Brian LaBelle, Whelan.
• Crew: Camera (color), Lawson Denning; editor, Yesenia Higuera; music, Steve Bartek; production designer, Jennifer Williams; art director, Williams; (Dolby Digital), Gary Day; supervising sound editor/sound designer, Michael McDonald; visual effects supervisor, Kenneth Armstrong; stunt coordinator, G. Peter King; associate producer, Christine Felton; assistant director, John Vanover. Reviewed on DVD, Los Angeles, June 8, 2008. (In Palm Springs Film Festival, 2007 Boston Film Festival.) Running time: 100 MIN.
• With: With: Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Johnny Messner, Brooke Burns, Angelika Baran, James Duval, Shalim Ortiz, Jake Muxworthy, Alexandra Breckenridge.

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High school grad. Conner Layne is about to marry his first love, but when wedding plans fail, he goes solo on his honeymoon to Central America, finding adventure with a ragtag group of foreigners who attempt to cross the Darien Gap in record time.

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The Art of Travel

Film details, brief synopsis, cast & crew, thomas whelan, brooke burns, christopher masterson, ernie w. lively, johnny messner, maria conchita alonso, technical specs.

High school graduate Conner Layne plans to marry his sweetheart, but soon finds himself on an adventure through the Darien Gap, a hundred-mile swath of jungle between Central and South America.

Shalim Ortiz

James duval, jake muxworthy, angelika baran, bijou phillips, lawson deming, emyr g graciano, yesenia higuera, kyle jackson, brian labelle, carol masterson, miscellaneous notes.

Released in United States 2008

Released in United States on Video September 2, 2008

Released in United States January 2008

Released in United States 2008 (Beverly Hills)

Shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival (World Cinema Now) January 3-14, 2008.

Released in United States January 2008 (Shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival (World Cinema Now) January 3-14, 2008.)

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The Art of Travel

Where to Watch

Christopher Masterson (Conner Layne) Brooke Burns (Darlene Loren) Johnny Messner (Christopher Loren) James Duval (Taylor 'One Ball') Jake Muxworthy (Justin 'Two Dogs') Shalim Ortiz (Carlos 'Bullet') Angelika Libera (Anna 'G-Spot') Bijou Phillips (Christina Layne) Ernie Lively (Mr. Layne) Maria Conchita Alonso (Mrs. Layne)

Thomas Whelan

Having called off his wedding, a high school graduate journeys alone to Central America, finding adventure with a ragtag group of foreigners who attempt to cross the Darien Gap in record time.

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The Art of Travel

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The art of travel.

Directed by Thomas Whelan

The art of travel is to deviate from the current plan.

High school grad. Conner Layne is about to marry his first love, but when wedding plans fail, he goes solo on his honeymoon to Central America, finding adventure with a ragtag group of foreigners who attempt to cross the Darien Gap in record time.

Christopher Masterson Brooke Burns Johnny Messner James Duval Angelika Libera Jake Muxworthy Shalim Ortiz Ernie Lively María Conchita Alonso Bijou Phillips Alexandra Breckenridge Tommy Savas Frank Califano Silvia Spross Annie Huntley Brian LaBelle Danny Trejo

Director Director

Thomas Whelan

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Corey Large

Composer Composer

Steve Bartek

Alternative Title

Uma Viagem Inesquecível

Adventure Comedy Drama Action

Crude humor and satire Laugh-out-loud relationship entanglements Show All…

Releases by Date

08 jan 2008, releases by country.

• Theatrical R

100 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by horizonmars ★★★

I won't lie, this film was initially a struggle to get through. So much so that I ended up watching it in two separate instalments. The plot is overly contrived, the script fairly unbelievable, and certain sequences are incredibly hammy (the jungle sections in particular).

But where this film redeems itself is through it's fairly good performances across the board. The exchanges between Christopher Masterson's and Angelika Libera's characters toward the latter end of the film are credible and relatable (particularly to someone who has travelled extensively in the past, as in the case of this author.)

The film also manages to capture the thrill of the open road fairly well, helped in no small part by the often breathtaking…

Review by PhillyFilmFan ★★½

This film begins with an excellent premise. Our hero has just graduated from high school and is about to marry his sweetheart after four years of savings themselves for each other. During their wedding he interrupts the ceremony to inform everybody that he has a present for each of them. The crowd reaches under their seats to find envelopes containing a picture of the bride in bed with the groom's brother. Our hero then tells the bride to fuck off, walks out of the ceremony and catches the next available flight out of town. That flight takes him to Managua, Nicaragua where drunken escapades with Dutch co-eds ensue alongside muggings and other clashes with the locals. The movie's a whole lot of fun until the main character decides to go on a dangerous, year-long trek through the jungle. It takes forever and it's not very interesting. Also, the ending is stupid.

Review by Vince Rogue ★★★★

"Relax, have a beer, and see what happens next."

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THE ART OF TRAVEL

Fresh out of high school — and freshly scorned by his high school sweetheart, whom he planned to marry — Conner Layne embarks on his yearlong honeymoon alone and learns plenty about himself in the process.

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Product Description

Conner Layne (Christopher Masterson) is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, just not the one he planned on. Having discovered that his fiancée is having an affair with his best friend, he dumps her at the altar and heads off on his honeymoon solo. While experiencing the wonders that South America has to offer, including meeting two hot Swedish travelers and being robbed of all his money and belongings, he meets a friendly couple -- Darlene (Brooke Burns) and her husband Christopher (Johnny Messner) -- who are planning to cross the Darien Gap, a 100-mile-long streak of undeveloped jungle that separates Panama and Colombia, in record time with a ragtag group of foreigners. Conner decides to join the group of adventurers journeying through perilous landscape for the quest of a lifetime and gets more of an adventure then he bargained for.

Product details

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 5.75 x 0.53 inches; 3.2 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Thomas Whelan
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Color, AC-3, NTSC, Subtitled, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 41 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ September 2, 2008
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Christopher Masterson, Brooke Burns
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ Spanish
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Alchemy / Millennium
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0019T3DXC
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #26,096 in Drama DVDs

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The Art of Travel Films: A Conversation with Brandon Li

In his or her own way, almost every person in the world is a travel filmmaker. When people find themselves in new places, they get out their camcorders and hit Record. These videos, of course, are historically some of the most boring videos ever made. That’s why when a professional travel filmmaker like Brandon Li turns his eye on a place, the result is so striking. There is an art to making a great travel film, and we hoped Brandon could teach us what it is.

As a former MTV producer and a current vagabond artist, Brandon is something of an expert at both filmmaking and world traipsing. And he’s found a way to put the two elements together. He told us, “[I realized] I could just go out and live and do cool stuff and film it and make stuff that people would  actually  want to watch because it’s actually interesting stuff.”

For anyone who thinks that sounds like a pretty decent life (count us in), read on. Brandon Li has a few things to teach you.

What are you doing in Abu Dhabi?

I’m shooting some promotional videos for Etihad Airways, which is Abu Dhabi’s airline. They’re coming out with some new planes, and I’m filming little walk-throughs on the planes, showing all the features of first class and business class, that kind of thing.

Is that pretty cool?

For me, it’s basically just a paycheck. It’s not my passion. I don’t entirely support the whole ultra-luxury lifestyle. These planes have apartments on board for $20,000 a flight. One way. You get a butler all to yourself.

That’s pretty sweet.

I guess. But the thing about Abu Dhabi and Dubai is that without technology, they basically don’t exist. These places have nothing cool that isn’t artificial. You take away the artifice, and you have a desert. And not even a nice desert. Everyone here is so accustomed to luxury because without it, you basically have nothing. You become numb to it.

Have you always been such an active traveler?

I lived in Missouri until I was 18. I couldn’t wait to get out of there because most of my friends were planning on becoming real estate agents or nurses, and I didn’t want to be either. Throughout my childhood I was always making short films with my friends. I always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker of some kind. So I ended up going to film school — basically the only one that accepted me: University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

It was a good film school. It taught me the traditional methods of filmmaking. As soon as I graduated, I started working for MTV on a show called  True Life.

What was that like?

The way  True Life  worked was they’d give you an assignment, and you’d go out and film the thing yourself, edit it yourself, and basically make an entire TV episode with just a camcorder and a couple lavaliers.

They just sent you out to follow somebody around?

They’d give me a topic and an American Express Gold Card. They’d say, “Hey, your topic is narcolepsy. See you in six months.” They’d give me some leads but they always sucked. The problem is, when you’re filming a reality show like this, it all depends on what is happening right now. Usually the interesting story had already passed by the time I got the lead.

So how did you find stories then?

A whole bunch of ways. Craigslist was usually the starting point. I’d put an ad either in “Gigs” or “Jobs,” someplace that had a wide spectrum of people seeing it. Then I’d interview hundreds of people. That was one way. If a show was about, say, narcolepsy, I might call up clinics and ask doctors to suggest it to their patients. That worked a few times. Then there was a website called, I think,  ExperienceProject.com . It’s like a social network for people who want to talk about their personal issues. Or sometimes I would find stories through friends.

Were there skills you picked up that are still useful to you?

True Life  is where I learned to do documentary-style stuff. Before  True Life,  I had no interest in anything real. I just wanted to make comedy videos. Then I did  True Life,  and suddenly I was much more interested in real stuff. And in traveling. While I was doing  True Life,  I was generally in a different city every two weeks for eight years.

Were there any lessons you learned about what makes a good documentary story?

I learned a lot about how to catch conflict on camera. I learned to smell trouble and put the camera in the right place. But maybe the most important thing I learned was how to construct a story spontaneously. Just little storytelling things, like keeping the audience spatially oriented. You want people to know where somebody is going, what they’re doing, eyelines, reaction shots, things like that. Just the bits and pieces of a scene that we’re familiar with from narrative cinema. You need those same pieces even if it’s a completely unplanned documentary. I learned how to gather all those bits and pieces. To actually shoot scenes.

I also learned how important it is to have a point of view. If I’m at a festival where there are 1,000 things going on, I could either spend my time getting random shots of every single thing I can, or I can pick a point of view and stick with it. I can decide, “Okay, I’m going to tell this festival story from the point of view of, say, the guy who breathes fire.” So then I’ll focus on how the festival feels to him. Or maybe from the point of view of a child who is experiencing this for the first time.

I can see that in  Gateway to the Ganges.  It feels like much more than just random travel scenes.

I wanted to profile these holy cities that weren’t as well known to the outside world. I wanted to show it from the point of view of people who live there and struggle there day after day. What shocked me about India was how much poverty is everywhere. Most people are straight-up living in houses made of sticks, walking through fields of trash every day. I wanted to show the balance between the suffering that happens there all the time and the rituals and ceremonies they use to strengthen their faith and get through their difficult lives.

So what was your process like for making a film like this?

I spent a lot of time chatting with whoever could speak English…café owners, merchants, just asking them, “Hey, so you live here. What’s it like? What do you do? What is a regular day like? What should I see?” I became good friends with this guy who owned a café, and one morning I ended up on a scooter with him, riding up the mountain. The café owner told people what I was doing, told them not to smile for the camera, to just ignore me. Then this one guy, as soon as he heard I was filming, he grabbed two sickles and started climbing a tree. I realized he was hacking off branches to feed to his cattle. They existed in this balance where they could only have so many cattle because they only had so many trees. It was interesting to see them living on the limits of subsistence.

How do you condense an entire place into a three-minute video?

Mainly, there are two things I look for. One is what’s unique about the place. What’s something you can’t find anywhere else on the planet, or at least anywhere else outside of that country? That’s the first thing. The second thing I look for is movement. I’m shooting video, not taking pictures; so something has to be moving inside the frame. It’s surprisingly difficult to find stuff that moves when you’re shooting travel films. Most sightseeing is organized around static things: buildings or mountains, which are beautiful, but they don’t do anything. It’s hard to make them work for video.

I also try to get as intimate with people as possible without violating their sense of privacy, and I try to do it as quickly as possible because I like to cover a lot of ground when I’m shooting. It’s always a delicate balance of reading the subject’s comfort level while getting closer and closer to them. I prefer people to be unaware of the camera. I like to keep the fourth wall up.

My pet peeve in travel videos is the little kids in Africa smiling and chasing the camera, running up and making goofy faces. I think Westerners misinterpret that footage to be like, “They’re in some idyllic village where life is simpler than ours and they love it.” They’re not. They’re just happy because a camera is there. It still sucks to be poor.

How important is it to plan ahead?

Here’s how I look at it. If I’m going somewhere, I have to have a climax in mind for my video. I have to have something visually kinetic that is interesting and moving and unique. Beyond that, I don’t schedule a whole lot.

With  Gateway to the Ganges  I knew I wanted [people] bathing in the river, and I wanted the fire ceremony. I knew those two things would be really interesting on camera. Lots of motion, lots of emotion, and both said a lot about the area. Beyond that, I just wandered around. I’m always after something spontaneous. I try to capture something you can’t possibly plan. I think that’s what makes videos really interesting.

That’s a tough assignment.

Yeah, but the thing about spontaneous moments is they usually repeat. For instance, there’s a shot in there of a monkey jumping. I spent 15 minutes trying to capture the perfect jump in slow motion and missed most of them. So I usually look for things that have some sort of repetition. Even bathing in the river. It looks spontaneous, but actually those people kept dunking themselves and coming back out. I had four or five tries per person.

The funny thing is that most of this is stuff I learned while shooting True Life. I was always trying to capture spontaneous moments on that show.

Has traveling so much changed your perspective on being a filmmaker?

I’ve realized you just have to go do things. I had such a hard time coming up with things to film when I was living in Los Angeles. It would always be some contrived situation about some guy who thinks his girlfriend is a ghost or something. Like, “Wouldn’t that be weird if your girlfriend were a ghost?! Crazy, right? There are twists!”

Then people get involved and micromanage the script, like, “I don’t know if I’m really feeling that twist in the third act,” or “It feels a little too cliché, a little too repetitive, a little too…whatever.” I could go through all that, or I could just go out and live and do cool stuff and film it and make stuff that people would actually want to watch because it’s actually interesting stuff.

You don’t have a hard time coming up with ideas anymore?

No. Now I’m just filming the world. And the world is pretty big. Every corner you go around, there’s something interesting.

One of the things we appreciate most about Brandon is not just the fact that he’s an excellent filmmaker, but he’s a very thoughtful one too. When you talk to Brandon, it’s obvious he’s thought a lot about what he does and why. So in addition to the practical lessons Brandon shared above, another lesson we can take away is the value of contemplating your craft. Understanding why you do the things you do. The value of thoughtfulness itself.

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The Art of Travel

Presented by Alain de Botton, looks into the philosophical impulses behind traveling and in doing so offers a profound and often witty view of some of the deeper issues underlying travel and... Read all Presented by Alain de Botton, looks into the philosophical impulses behind traveling and in doing so offers a profound and often witty view of some of the deeper issues underlying travel and our desire for it. Presented by Alain de Botton, looks into the philosophical impulses behind traveling and in doing so offers a profound and often witty view of some of the deeper issues underlying travel and our desire for it.

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E-newsletter, view our free, travel guide, celebrating asian american, native hawaiian, and pacific islander heritage month.

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a time dedicated to recognizing AANHPIs contributions and influence over U.S. culture, history, and achievements. This year, join us as we celebrate and recognize how the AANHPI community has contributed to Bentonville’s culture and community through art, food, and more!  

We’re eager to celebrate AANHPI heritage in May and throughout the year with educational art experiences, local dining, and more!

Check out these ideas for celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander heritage in Bentonville in May and year-round:

Discover Artwork by AANHPI Artists  

Art is on every corner in this city. From sculptures, murals, paintings, and more, Bentonville is covered. Here’s a list of just a few of the not-to-miss artworks by AANHPI artists on view around Bentonville.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

The mission of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the…

Scout out artwork at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art:

Yayoi Kusama, who has several works on view throughout the museum. Find her Infinity Mirrored Room in the Contemporary Art Gallery and two other outdoor installations on the Crystal Bridges trails. 

Here are some additional artists to look out for as you peruse the galleries:

Maya Lin, whose sculpture Silver Upper White River , is on view outside of the Modern Art Gallery.

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, whose painting Little Joe with Cow and Abstract drawing is currently on view in the Modern Art Gallery.

Find AANHPI Public Art: 

Yayoi Kusama, Narcissus Garden, 1996—1800 stainless steel sphere, just off the south lawn at Crystal Bridges. Collection of Oz Art NWA

Yayoi Kusama, Flowers that Bloom Now, 2017 Image courtesy of Oz Art NWA.

Stainless steel and urethane paint, at Crystal Bridges south lawn.

Helen Oji, Space Shuttle, 1982

Mixed media on folded paper, at Thaden Fieldhouse (Flying Center). Collection of Oz Art NWA

Asia Ward, Tall grass, 2021. Courtesy of Oz Art NWA

Louise “Ouizi” Jones, Summer Always Blooms, 2021, Acrylic paint. Located at W Central Ave and N Main Street. Collection of Oz Art NWA

Louise “Ouizi” Jones, Summer Always Blooms, 2021, Acrylic paint.

Dine at aanhpi-owned and inspired bentonville restaurants:.

There are so many delicious AA/nhPI-owned and inspired Bentonville restaurants! Dine at one of the restaurants on this list, and celebrate the influence of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander culture on Bentonville’s dining scene:

Sushi House

Thai Kitchen

Fruitealicious

Tea & Mi

CO-OP Ramen

Lin's Garden Chinese Restaurant

PinoyLicious Filipino Kitchen

Pho 85 Noodle House

Yummy House

Check out our Bentonville Dining Guide to explore more AANHPI-owned and inspired restaurants.

Attend the 2024 Bentonville Film Festival

This year, be sure to grab a pass to the Bentonville Film Festival June 10-16. This year’s programming features storytellers and talent, with 51% who identify as BIPOC, Asian, or Pacific Islander, according to Variety . Check out the full festival program here .

Bentonville Public Library

Pick up a book:.

From area bookshops to public libraries, you’ve got options to find new reading material exploring and celebrating AANHPI authors:

Two Friends Books and Cafe  

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art library end cap

Bentonville Public Library 

Once Upon A Time

Connect with AANHPI communities and history in Northwest Arkansas:

Ra-ve Cultural Foundation —A registered non-profit dedicated to promoting Indian performing arts in NWA.

Arkansas Coalition of the Marshallese —To empower the Marshallese community through culturally sensitive programs through education, leadership, policy advocacy, and holistic services.

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A recent post on the Music Network of Maine Facebook page by singer-songwriter Anni Clark about an upcoming show.

Maine music fan and guitarist John Perry started the Music Network of Maine Facebook page about a decade ago. It’s described as a place for videos, photos and events involving Maine musicians and shows in the state.

On any given day, you can see anywhere from a handful to dozens of posts about upcoming performances by musicians and bands happening at venues all over the state.

Singer-songwriter Anni Clark is an active contributor, and her most recent post shared info about a May 9 show in Westbrook. Another recent post had details about a Fleetwood Mac tribute show scheduled for May 18 in Bath.

Account: Music Network of Maine

Platform: Facebook

Followers: 12,700

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