LITTLE ROCK — A new public art project unveiled Thursday on Main Street asks passersby to write in chalk what they most want to do before they die.
The effort, dubbed "A Bucket List on Main" and inspired by a similar display in New Orleans, spans a section of street-level boards covering part of the now-vacant M.M. Cohn building at Main and Capitol Avenue.
After a news conference introducing the project, organizers and passersby were invited to chalk in their goals, hopes or dreams. Among the first to grace the wall: Learning to fly an airplane, owning a BMW and seeing a woman elected president.
The latter came from Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School, who forwarded the suggestion for the project to the Downtown Little Rock Partnership after a former student saw the New Orleans version online and suggested Little Rock create its own.
Rutherford said he believes the art project will be a big draw for a Main Street the city is working to revitalize. He said he suspects the wall will quickly fill up, at which point organizers will photograph the entries and then erase them to make room for new additions.
"I think it's a great community-spirit builder," Rutherford said. "Public art, interactive participation - it's a place where people will walk by, come by, look at it, take pictures of it, encourage their family members to visit. I think it could become a significant, major tourism attraction in the city."
The black, chalkboard-like wall runs on the east and north sides of the building, featuring blank space preceded by white, stenciled-in-paint writing reading "Before I die I want to..." Several baskets holding chalk are attached along the space.
The project is part of ongoing work to bring people back to Main Street, which is now marked by numerous boarded-up, vacant buildings.
"One of the things I hear from people all the time is when they come down to Main Street, they think of what used to be here," said Sharon Priest, the executive director of the downtown partnership who chalked in her desire to visit Iceland. "This is an opportunity for people to come down, play a little bit, have a good positive experience and do some interactive art and dreaming."