The wait is over! The moment has arisen! Twenty-six year old Jennie McNulty is soaring on the wings of Blackbird Academy of Arts, Inc. as she flings open her doors to Conway artisans.
“I wanted to create a place where artists of all types feel like their art has worth. It’s not an assembly line where you put a kid in a class, teach them how to dance, paint, or play an instrument, then they leave.” McNulty has grander plans, and there is no age limit! She’s eager for artists of all ages to continue learning and honing their skills, eventually showcasing their art in our community.
Without taking a breath, this petite and spunky UCA graduate speaks passionately of her desire to provide quality arts education in Conway. It seems Blackbird was born during her Honors College thesis in 2005. The name, adopted from the popular 1968 Beatles tune, is near to McNulty’s heart.
“I wrote an adult fairy tale for my thesis production. It went along with the Blackbird theme about taking the broken things in your life and doing something productive with them. The production had acting, dancing, narrating, and of course music!”
Once the curtain fell on her collegiate production, Blackbird refused to take a final bow, waiting in the wings until Father Time summoned. Fast forward a few years and McNulty is employed as a successful dance instructor, teaching dozens of students each week. Weekend dance competitions were the norm. She also took part in leading UCA’s Honeybears dance team to top achievements at national competition. Her then-boyfriend, Statler Strange, was soon to become her fiancé, and life looked perfect from the audience’s view. But McNulty says there was a void in her seemingly full life.
“As a dance instructor, I wasn’t totally fulfilled. My mind would go through reasons of why. Statler asked me some really good questions.”
True to an artists’ prescription for what ails the soul, McNulty put pen to paper and wrote for a dozen days or more.
“I spent a lot of time just writing in my journal. I love poetry and little kids’ first dance classes, murals on walls, and the smell of peaches. I wrote about everything that made me smile, that I enjoyed, and times in my life that gave me purpose like working in Burma (with Chi Alpha Ministries). I wrote about times in my life I felt genuine purpose.”
As is so often the case, a plan began to take shape once McNulty put her thoughts on paper. That plan was in the outline of a bird … specifically a Blackbird!
Yet how do thoughts and ideas on paper transform into a 4,500 square foot facility? In a matter of months, a publicity campaign was launched. Professional instructors were hired to teach at the non-profit academy. Scholarships were in place. Percussion, painting, and piano were headlining the classes offered. Seamstresses and soloists as well as dancers and drummers could all find a place at Blackbird. And yet, this is reality, not a fairy tale. It took more than a magic wand to get Blackbird where it is today.
“Before taking any major steps, I talked to moms, teachers, and professors. There are a lot of people who drive to Little Rock or Russellville for pre-professional ballet classes. I talked to a lot of people who said ‘I’m tired of doing that.’”
Blackbird offers a wide range of instruction, from the dancer who rehearses 7-10 hours a week preparing for a career, to the 3-year old interested mostly in twirling in a tutu. Somewhere down the road, McNulty foresees a production incorporating the skills of Blackbird’s dancers, vocalists, instrumentalists, seamstresses, writers, set designers, and more. From artist to businesswoman, McNulty’s modus operandi is to listen, learn, and then execute.
“Statler studied Business Communication. He helped me see a side of things I wouldn’t naturally see. I talked to bankers and accountants, who again showed me things that I might not have seen.”
After calling the Arkansas Small Business Association for advice and direction, McNulty meticulously completed a sample business plan, which she says was a worthy yet daunting task.
“I took a sample business plan and did everything they asked. It was a 30 page document which asked for my purpose, goals, and objectives. I had to compile start up expense graphs and list Conway demographics. It really took me through things I needed to think about.”
With a load of sweat equity poured into Blackbird, McNulty is eager to turn the page, don her leotard, and watch the next chapter of her life unfold. Thus far in Blackbird’s story, she has played a variety of roles, which often leads to better understanding for the roles we all play in life. Perhaps, that’s the artistic viewpoint.
“I feel like art is a really good avenue for allowing people to connect with broken places. Art is something that transcends all boundaries … men, women, Black, White, Asian, Latino, art crosses every line. A soldier in Iran could look at the same painting as me and even though we don’t speak the same language, the painting could communicate something to each of us.”
And that communication could be a message delivered on canvas, on stage, or on stationery.
“Art allows you to make something tangible out of something that is intangible.”
Perhaps from the time McNulty chassed across a dance floor in her first class at the age of 4 until now, more than twenty years later, a tangible expression of her love and affection for the arts has been manifesting.
Today, that manifestation takes on the tangible form of Blackbird Academy of Arts.