Arts Center visitors rise by 80,249

LR museum in the black as theater, school make gains

Peggy Wenger of Sherwood explores the 57th annual Delta Exhibition on Tuesday morning at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. The center reported an increase in visitors in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
Peggy Wenger of Sherwood explores the 57th annual Delta Exhibition on Tuesday morning at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. The center reported an increase in visitors in the 2014-15 fiscal year.

The number of people visiting the Arkansas Arts Center is increasing and the center's finances are staying steady as its foundation looks ahead to the possibility of a new building, Executive Director Todd Herman said this week.

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Signs direct visitors outside the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. Children’s Theater productions and youth programs have increased attendance, and registration at the Museum School is the highest it has been in five years, the center reported.

Visitors in the 2014-15 fiscal year totaled 338,776 -- 80,249 more than the previous year, Herman said in a news release. Children's Theater productions and youth programs have increased attendance, and registration at the Museum School is the highest it has been in five years, he said.

The Arts Center also ended its fifth consecutive year in the black, a proud accomplishment for an agency that experienced rocky finances in 2010 that left the center more than $1 million in the hole even after three lines of credit from its foundation.

The debt of that year was primarily because of a smaller-than-anticipated number of admissions sold for the "World of the Pharaohs" exhibit.

The Arts Center Foundation raises money for the center and owns the artwork, while the center itself is a public agency that is located in a city-owned building at 501 E. Ninth St. in Little Rock.

The foundation has been reviewing proposals from Little Rock and North Little Rock to relocate to a new building or have extensive renovations completed on the current one. Either option would likely mean a new tax that would have to be approved by voters. The foundation has said it has no timeline to make a decision.

Foundation President Bobby Tucker previously said the foundation wants a commitment of $100 million in public funds through tax increases to pay for the construction of a new building.

North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith has agreed to those terms and indicated he would ask voters in his city to approve a new tax in a special election if the Arts Center Foundation chose to move across the river.

Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said he would have a hard time asking voters to support the entire cost and thinks a vote would be more successful if some of the money came from private contributions.

Both cities give the center money each year for building maintenance.

At the annual meeting of the Arts Center's Board of Trustees and the foundation board Monday, Tucker touted the foundation's "growing national and international reputation."

The news release said the growing reputation is evidenced by the increasing number of requests for loans of artwork, including requests from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

At the meeting, it was announced that Shep Russell would take over as president of the Arts Center Board of Trustees for a two-year term. He previously served as secretary. Russell is the chairman and managing partner of Friday, Eldredge & Clark law firm in Little Rock.

The Arts Center also presented its Winthrop Rockefeller Award to Paul Bash. The award is given to someone who serves and supports the arts and the center "beyond the normal call of duty."

Bash is a chef and the founding president of the central Arkansas chapter of the American Culinary Federation.

Metro on 08/26/2015

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