Central Arkansas’ largest art museum is pushing back the grand opening of its brand-new facility in downtown Little Rock.
Officials with the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, formerly known as the Arkansas Arts Center, say the new facility in MacArthur Park will now open sometime in fall of 2022 instead of a planned opening next May.
Van Tilbury, president of the museum’s board of trustees, said Monday the new deadline gives more time for enhancements.
"We’ve learned through the pandemic, as we’ve seen delays across the construction industry with materials, and we’re seeing escalating pricing, that while we’re on schedule for our original scope of work, we want to make enhancements and improvements to the building," Tilbury said.
Tilbury says the museum plans to make improvements to its black box theatre, as well as to outdoor landscaping and adding another 1,000 square feet of gallery space. The museum has been operating in a limited capacity in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood since its original space was closed for the renovations in 2019.
Museum of Fine Arts Executive Director Victoria Ramirez says the delay will allow for an expanded capital campaign goal of $142 million.
"We want to expand membership… and we want to do all of this so when we do have that grand opening in fall of ’22, we’ve got an institution that really reflects this community and where the broadest circles of people from this community can be proud of it," Ramirez said.
Board members on Monday also approved a roughly $6.2 million budget for fiscal year 2022.
