FAYETTEVILLE — The Walton Arts Center can count on the support of its namesake foundation for an expansion site, but only if it is built in Bentonville, arts center leaders said Wednesday.
In a letter dated Tuesday, Buddy Philpot, executive director of the Walton Family Foundation, wrote that while the foundation expects to continue supporting programming and services at the center’s Fayetteville site, a second location presents an opportunity to give the region dual “anchors” for theater, dance and musical performances.
“We do not foresee being the lead donor for a new performing arts facility in a location other than Bentonville,” Philpot wrote in his letter to Peter B. Lane, the arts center’s president and chief executive officer.
“A Bentonville location will serve as a good complement to the existing Walton Arts Center facility in Fayetteville, as facilities in Bentonville and Fayetteville would give our region strong performing arts ‘anchors,’” the letter said.
“This location would further complement and strengthen the growth and revitalization that will be occurring in downtown Bentonville, including the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.”
Crystal Bridges, financed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. heir Alice Walton, was originally announced with a spring 2009 opening date. Since site problems have delayed construction, museum officials have not publicly offered a revised completion timeline.
Also in the letter, the Walton foundation recommended the arts center delay a decision on the project’s size until after the area’s economy settles down.
“We feel the expansion as currently proposed is simply too large in terms of scope and cost,” Philpot wrote. “We recommend holding off on making a final decision on this for a period of time.
“This would allow any proposed expansion to be re-examined within the context of the current economic climate and the future potential impact of other Northwest Arkansas cultural amenities now being planned.”
The Walton Arts Center’s $180 million expansion proposal includes a 2,100-seat performing arts center and a 600-seat multipurpose venue, which Lane said is merely conceptual at this point.
“Quite frankly, we agree” with the foundation’s recommendation, Lane said. “The final location will drive the scope and size.”
Walton Arts Center leaders have said the venue’s largest performance hall - 1,200-seat Baum Walker Hall - isn’t big enough for some performances the organization would like to attract.
For arts center officials, the letter answered the question regarding what the Walton foundation thought about the proposed expansion.
“We’ve been asking their opinion for some time,” Lane said Wednesday. About two weeks ago, the foundation let arts center officials know it planned to put its thoughts in a letter.
A spokesman at the foundation’s office declined Wednesday afternoon to comment beyond the contents of the letter.
The foundation’s letter won’t interrupt the site-selection process, Lane said.
Lane and Terri M. Trotter, arts center’s chief operating officer, said they decided to release the letter to two newspapers a day after receiving it - even before the center’s entire board had been notified - since officials have pledged an open process for the site selection.
In 2008, the Walton Arts Center Board commissioned a feasibility study for a second site. This led to much interest in whether it would be located in Benton County or Washington County.
Using this study, the board devised a list of 15 selection criteria in February and has set an Aug. 2 deadline for site proposals. To date, the board has received about 20 proposals and expects more. Lane and Trotter wouldn’t say Wednesday whether the interest is coming mostly from developers or potential land donors.
The Walton Family Foundation has continued to support the original arts center since its construction.
“Right now, we have a grant from them - it’s $1 million a year,” Trotter said, adding that the money supports programming, helping the center to draw bigger-name acts than it otherwise could.
The center has a $10 million annual operating budget, Lane said. It receives about half this from ticket revenue and about half from fundraising.
The center has about 1,200 donors altogether, Lane and Trotter said.
The original Walton Arts Center location opened in April 1992. At the time, an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article described it as an $11 million, 55,000-square-foot facility, largely made possible by a $5 million gift from Wal-Mart founder Sam M. Walton and his wife, Helen.
“The Walton family is the reason we’re here in the first place,” Lane said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/24/2010