“The unique nature of 2020 seemed to call us to look back on folks who helped make this challenging year a little bit better,” writes Becca Martin-Brown in Sunday’s (1/3) Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock). Among those cited in the article is D. Riley Nicholson, who became executive director of Symphony of Northwest Arkansas this summer. “When he accepted the job with SoNA, he had no idea he’d be reimagining the way an orchestra delivers music to its listeners, not just in 2020 but beyond. ‘All of these alternative concert experiences that we are producing are not just a stop-gap to hold us over, but rather a strategic test of how we want SoNA to grow and evolve,’ Nicholson says…. ‘Covid has been a wake-up call and forced us to be flexible…. My hope is that we can continue that level of innovation for years to come. We can’t wait to get back to the mainstage at Walton Arts Center…. However, growth for us looks more like additions rather than replacements…. How can we be more equitable to artists, more diverse in programming, and reach a wider audience? This Reimagined Season is a great opportunity to start testing and answering some of these questions.’ ”
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