CONWAY — If it’s too daunting for someone to think about driving to the University of Central Arkansas to take a cake-decorating class or look at art, there’s a new option: UCA Downtown.
UCA is renovating 2,500 square feet at 1107 Oak St. and has a three-year lease for $2,500 a month. The space will be used for the public to participate in classes, programs and lectures, or to peruse an art gallery.
An open house for the new space is planned for 5-7 p.m. Dec. 12, said Shelley Mehl, associate vice president for outreach and community engagement.
“They’re on schedule,” Mehl said. UCA will use the east half of the building, owned by Robert “Bunny” Adcock, a former UCA board member.
Diane Newton, UCA’s vice president for finance and administration, said Adcock is paying for most of the construction.
“The majority of the renovation cost is covered by the owner, as the main work to be done was for the overall building and not specific to the UCA space,” Newton said. “The UCA portion is only around $10,000.”
The new location was UCA President Tom Courtway’s idea, based on a similar setup he saw while traveling.
“The idea is to have a place where our students and faculty can show, display or otherwise exhibit some great things — such as art, music, books,” Courtway said. “We can also have lectures there, some outreach classes and maybe some things for younger students, such as painting. It is an
evolving discussion, but it’s exciting. We get an opportunity to bring UCA downtown.”
Mehl said information and programs from throughout the UCA campus will be pulled together for the space.
“You can walk in and learn anything you want to know about what’s going on at UCA,” she said. “We’ve scheduled some of our community-education classes; we’re going to have sewing, cake decorating and tai chi.”
The space, once home to a bakery in the rear, already has a kitchen, Mehl said.
“We’re just going to add a refrigerator and an oven and little induction burners so culinary classes can be held there.”
Other events scheduled include a TEDx Salon on Jan. 19. It’s the locally organized version of TED, a global,
nonprofit group promoting the exchange of ideas at gatherings. TED, which started in 1984, stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.
“On the third Tuesday of every month, we’re going to have a meeting of our community service-learning partners — everybody from United Way to CoHO (City of Hope Outreach) to Bethlehem House. They participate in our service-learning activities for our students,” she said.
The College of Fine Arts and Communication will have a gallery in the front of the space to showcase student and faculty art, she said.
Mehl said that in addition to a physical kiosk, the location will be staffed with a UCA Outreach office employee on a rotating basis.
“Everybody wants that to be their office,” she said,
laughing. “That way, you get a different perspective.”
“We’ve collected information from alumni, from admissions, from athletics, Reynolds; we’ll have the UCA magazines down there,” she said.
“We’ve ordered one of those old-fashioned sandwich boards, and we’re going to put it out front every day that we’re open, and it’ll have something about UCA — either it’s happening that day or happened last night, or a ‘did you know?’
“It’s really trying to draw people to at least know what’s going on on campus. If you don’t get to campus, you’ll know what’s going on,” Mehl said. “There’s always
something going on.
“For the open house, we’ll have a little music, some hot chocolate, and I’ve got some purple-striped candy canes to give out. It’s going to be fun.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.