Renovation

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The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts is bringing ‘something new’

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by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts executive director Dr. Victoria Ramirez is ready to wear a new hat. With renovation of the new museum in Little Rock’s MacArthur Park complete, Ramirez and her team are prepared to run an arts center instead of a construction site.

“Well, we were all ready to put our hard hats down. I will say that. We were ready to start to be museum professionals. For me, I feel like I’m back home. I’ve worked in museums my entire career, and I feel like we are finally focusing more intently on our mission-based work, which is serving the community and bringing exceptional visual and performing arts experiences to this community,” Ramirez said on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics. “We’re planning our programming and next exhibitions for the end of 2023. We’re looking at 2024. And as we keep saying to people, the best is yet to come because we’ve got a lot more to share in the future. So it feels good to be a museum employee again.”

The architecture of the new building is as much a piece of art as the collections it houses. Designed by world-renowned architect Jeanne Gang of Chicago-based Studio Gang, the 133,000 sq. ft. museum has a new north and south entrance, with the north entrance restoring an original art deco façade from the 1937 Museum of Fine Arts building that had been hidden for decades.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/07/the-arkansas-museum-of-fine-arts-is-bringing-something-new/

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UA Cossatot Celebrates the Grand Opening of the Old Lockesburg Middle School

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UA Cossatot hosted an open house on Thursday, September 15, to showcase Phase I completion of the old Lockesburg Middle School restoration project. Visitors toured the Blue Darter Museum, the Community Room, and six classrooms. Dr. Steve Cole, Chancellor of UA Cossatot, was on hand to answer questions about the project and the future plans for the updated facility. New to Lockesburg will be a nursing medical simulation lab and plenty of new classroom space to offer new training and programs.

The Lockesburg restoration project was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council. Phase 2 of the project is scheduled to begin the week of September 19 and will include the south side of the old middle school facility. According to Dr. Cole, when Phase 2 is completed, UA Cossatot plans to ask the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program to name the entire 9.8-acre Lockesburg campus as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places, with the renovated buildings designated as contributing buildings.

Members of the public who wish to donate money or artifacts to the Blue Darter Museum or the campus beautification effort may contact UA Cossatot Director of Development Dustin Roberts at droberts@cccua.edu or call (870) 584-1172. In addition, bricks, classrooms, and the exterior building are available for naming as part of the Blue Darter Heritage Campaign.