A confluence is described as the junction of two rivers or the act or process of merging. When applied to the arts, specifically Jonesboro’s upcoming “Confluence III,” the result is a creative evening where a variety of diverse artforms and artists converge into an unexpected and thoughtful experience crafted for artists and patrons alike.

Scott McDaniel has always been a patron of the arts and has spent decades writing and working on his own craft in addition to continuing the legacy of his family’s business, Ramsons Construction, where he is in charge of executive functions, marketing, preconstruction, estimating and project management.

“I’ve always written; I’ve always found a bit of a home and a bit of myself on the page,” said McDaniel. “I’ve always appreciated art and loved art. My personal testimony is that realistically speaking, I was born with a stutter. Speech therapy taught me how to extend my vowels and to soften my consonants and all that, it taught me the skills, but what taught me the ability to interact with the world was actually the arts, and specifically it was drama class over at Jonesboro High School. 

“I learned how to stand on the stage, I learned how give arguments, I learned how to interact with the world through the arts. So, it’s always meant a lot to me because I’m a practitioner, but also as somebody who found myself in the arts. I’ve always been a creative person and have always wanted to experience and have other people to experience … whatever moves you.”

Poetry is McDaniel’s personal form of art, which he says he has taken seriously since 2016 when he got involved with a national community called Writers Hotel. He has been published in the American Poetry Review, and now that his first collection of poetry is complete, it will be published in a book that will come out in the fall.

McDaniel first launched Confluence in 2024 after spending many years bringing in artists to the Jonesboro area.

“Since around 2017, I’ve been bringing local spoken word artists in on a regular basis – many of whom are fairly renowned people,” said McDaniel. “I would host pop ups and move them around, then it got to a point where I was ready to make it bigger.

“I thought, ‘What if we had a show with a lot of different arts operating in the same space to combine for one experience?’ ‘Confluence I’ was a really good show. It featured primarily local folks, and it was very successful.”

McDaniel explains that the Confluence event itself is an art series that embraces the Bauhaus concept of “one art.” The Confluence events feature visual artists, musical artists, ceramic artists, spoken word artists and performance artists, and each event is unique.

Soon after the inaugural event, McDaniel crossed paths with fellow local arts patron and participant Mary Hollis Inboden, an actor and writer known as much for her televised roles as she is for her devotion to growing the arts in the community and in youth. Inboden is well-known for her role as Mary in “The Chicago Code,” as Jodi O’Neal in “The Real O’Neals,” Patty O’Connor in “Kevin Can F**k Himself” and Mandy in the “The Righteous Gemstones.” She recently relocated back to Jonesboro, the community that shaped her.

In addition to founding the NEA Theatre Club for youth in the arts and serving as an ambassador for Always Jonesboro, Inboden was quick to join forces with McDaniel when it came time to plan the second Confluence event.

“Scott McDaniel and I first met about three years ago in fellow Jonesboro artist Sean Shrum’s backyard,” said Inboden. “What started as a conversation about making more art – and growing Jonesboro’s appreciation for it – quickly became a creative partnership. Scott had already launched ‘Confluence I,’ his evening of spoken word and music, before I joined the team for ‘Confluence II’ in April 2025, which was also the official after-party of the Oasis Arts Festival. Rather than serve as a traditional emcee, I saw an opportunity to bring my primary art form—theatre—into the room.”

McDaniel says that because of what Inboden brought to the show, combined with how positively the community received the unique concept, the difference between “Confluence I” and “Confluence II” was night and day.

“What she immediately brought to the table was a deeper understanding of how to put on a show,” said McDaniel. “Not only did the blocking and lighting get better, it became a show from the second you walked through the door.”

Both McDaniel and Inboden say the appeal of bringing something new and exciting to the community while being just weird enough to push the envelope in a safe but experimental way is what made the idea of an artistic confluence so appealing.

“Whether in theatre or on television, I’m drawn to projects that don’t exist yet,” said Inboden. “Ensemble building and cultivating collaboration are areas where I feel especially at home. I’m used to being part of projects that people initially assume won’t work—whether because of their scale, their uniqueness or even their title (yes, I’m looking at you, ‘Kevin Can F**k Himself’). ‘The Confluence,’ as a multidisciplinary evening of art that relies on many creatives coming together, is right in my wheelhouse and exactly the kind of project I love to help build.”

“Confluence III,” set to debut on April 25, is the first of a two-part series, the second part of which will be presented in the fall. 

“The Confluence is a night where local poets, musicians, actors, DJs and visual artists all come together to tell a story,” said Inboden. “You’ll hear, see and feel art happening live – poetry over music, actors moving through the audience, paintings coming to life. It’s fun, surprising and completely alive. … For ‘Confluence III,’ I’m stepping in as producer, writer and performer, adding more theatrical storytelling and cohesion to a night jammed packed with even more local musicians, poets, artists and creatives.

“So many local artists already come together for street festivals or perform across the city’s theaters and music venues. ‘The Confluence’ puts those voices under one roof, while also welcoming collaborators from beyond Jonesboro – friends of the Delta, or anyone drawn to its culture. It’s also about growing an invested, local audience – people who might only have seen these art forms when traveling outside the city. Ultimately, ‘The Confluence’ invites neighbors to recognize and celebrate the richness of Northeast Arkansas and our local artists.”

While all the details of ‘Confluence III’ are ever-changing and evolving, Inboden says an impressive lineup of artist of many mediums is ready to go. 

“Scott and I set the evening’s framework and invite artists to lean into the theme, finding their unique take and using their discipline to help tell the story,” said Inboden. “Poetry comes from Scott McDaniel and Memphis’s Kim Vodicka, underscored by musicians Trent Duff, Derek Doyle, Darrell Sykes and Ben Ricketts. The DJ sets the mood, actors weave through music and audience, and Jonesboro native Matt Miller creates a live visual piece before your eyes. More artists from Jonesboro and beyond are slated to join and will be announced soon.”

Also playing a big role in “Confluence III” is award-winning director Kimberly Senior, who recently directed Inboden in “Bad Dates,” a one-woman show produced by The Link Theatre Company.

“Because of the scope of ‘The Confluence III,’ we invited award-winning director Kimberly Senior back to Jonesboro to help shape the evening,” said Inboden. “… A longtime friend and artistic collaborator, Kimberly works with theater companies across the country and has shepherded productions to Broadway, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning, Tony-nominated play ‘Disgraced’ by Ayad Akhtar. After spending a week in Jonesboro earlier this year, she fell in love with the city and many of the artists here, and she jumped at the chance to return and help bring ‘The Confluence III’ to life. We are so lucky to have her collaborating with us.”

McDaniel and Inboden say “The Confluence III” will involve more artists than previous shows and will center around the theme of Troubadour, a traveling poet, musician, songwriter and storyteller who carries their experiences from place to place.

“The theme asks a simple question: ‘Why do people leave home?’ said Inboden, “How are artists shaped by where they’re from and by what they discover on the road while sharing their gifts and stories? Jonesboro is a place rich in history and creativity, but keeping talent here has always been a challenge. ‘Troubadour’ explores that tension. Do people leave because a place feels too small or too sleepy? Because they aren’t supported? Or do they leave to gather inspiration they might one day bring back home?”

The theme will unfold as a two-part experience. The first chapter is “The Confluence III”on April 25, which explores why artists leave. The second will follow later this fall when the artists return home.

“When I was in Jonesboro working on Bad Dates with Mary Hollis, I really fell in love with the community of Jonesboro, (and) I also got to know Scott McDaniel a bit,” said Senior. “He and Mary Hollis shared with me the story of the past two Confluences and that they were cooking up a third, and I mentioned that I’d love to be involved, especially if it meant coming ‘home’ to Jonesboro. 

“So now I am directing the piece. What that actually means is that I am helping to shape the evening with a bit of an outside eye. Since it’s such a unique event, we’re all doing a bit of everything. I’m helping with the script, I’ll be coaching the actors on their performances, I’ll be working on how the evening looks and feels, what the audience experience is like, how we transition from one thing to the next, and I’ll even be performing an original piece of my own writing.”

Senior cites the welcoming community and its support of the arts as a reason she was eager to get involved with McDaniel’s unique concept.

“I had such an incredible experience working with my longtime friend and collaborator Mary Hollis on ‘Bad Dates,’” said Senior. “It was my first time in Jonesboro, and I immediately fell in love with the community. Everyone is so supportive. Dozens of people lent their hands and their shoeboxes to the making of that play. Beyond the support, I loved all of my conversations with the community. So many interesting people live in Jonesboro. I can’t wait to get back there.”

In addition to producing and performing in “The Confluence,” McDaniel’s longtime family business, Ramsons Construction, has become a key player in promoting and supporting the arts in Jonesboro with the founding of SHOW in 2024 as part of the business’ Arts Partnership.

“From a company perspective, we are a midsized company, and we can only give so much,” said McDaniel. “I think we have a corporate responsibility to make a difference. I know what the arts can do. The arts can save people in a way nothing else can. … I have a big passion for the arts. The arts are drastically underfunded. The impact and money I give, the arts can do more with it than anyone else can. There is no one in the corporate giving space that is fully dedicated to the arts, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

McDaniel says that as an extension of the Ramsons Arts Partnership, SHOW’s mission is to connect the Northeast Arkansas arts community with local people, passions and purpose. As a longstanding supporter of local creativity, McDaniel and Ramsons believe the arts play a vital role in shaping vibrant communities, fostering connection and enhancing quality of life through the arts.

“SHOW is a product of Ramsons Art Partnership,” he said. “It’s designed to support those events and create crossover audiences. If there’s not a lot happening, we'll make something happen. There wasn’t a lot going on in March, so we booked Tiny Towns and had a show at a café on Main Street. 

“For example, we were a sponsor on ‘Bad Dates’ and the Delta Symphony Orchestra candlelight show. We sponsor and help with marketing, posters, newsletters and social media to help drive ticket sales. It’s a promotional arm, and, if needed, a production arm.”

Whether it’s the Arts Partnership, SHOW or a Confluence show, McDaniel says it’s all to support the arts and better the Jonesboro community.

“I’ve always had a passion for community development,” said McDaniel. “The bottom line is that if we want Jonesboro to be the city that it needs to be in order to compete and survive, to attract and retain talent, you have to offer more than you do now. We’re behind Conway, we’re behind Paragould, and I want to help. If you create avenues with real experiences, people are more likely to stay and enjoy it and so forth. 

“We have so much here. The Bradbury Art Museum is one of the most slept on things here. I want to find what is out there and what is quality, real art that is making people feel things. Cool is cool no matter where it’s at, so my thought is, ‘Let’s find what we have now that hits those things and amplify it, expand the audience, find community and add more stuff to it.’”

McDaniel says that through the Art Partnership, Ramsons just wants to let people know there are already incredibly cool things happening all the time right here in Jonesboro, and the community needs to support all its own artists, starting with those in Confluence.

“From the second you walk in the door, you’re in a show,” said McDaniel. “You’re in a show until the second you walk out of the door. If we do our job right, everything will be crafted for an experience with a bit of a cliffhanger to help set up the next show. As always, the goal is to make people feel something.”

For more information about “Confluence III,” which will take place at a to-be-determined location on April 25, visit theconfluence.live or shownea.com. Tickets are currently on sale.