The Arkansas Arts Center will keep all of its full-time workers when it temporarily moves as part of a $128 million makeover of its downtown Little Rock space, according to a reduced operating "bridge" budget that trustees approved Monday.
Officials for years have planned to pare back operations when the museum adopts a temporary location during the 2½-year construction period. They have also worked to maintain a community presence and most key programs as a way to keep members interested and income flowing.
Although the balanced spending plan is down 14 percent, to $5.6 million, for fiscal 2020, beginning July 1, no full- or part-time staff members will lose their jobs, interim Executive Director Laine Harber said. Personnel costs will soak up $3.7 million of the budget.
"We have met our goal, as of right now, to retain all of our full-time staff," Harber said. Part-time jobs and responsibilities may shift during construction, but no one will lose a job "because of the transition," he added.
The Arts Center employs about 50 full-time and 40 part-time staff members.
Several trustees were absent, but no one in attendance voted against the budget, which is based on years of planning and serves as the official estimate of how the move will affect the center's bottom line.
Plans to expand and renovate the MacArthur Park museum accelerated in early 2016 after voters pledged a tax increase to hotel stays in order to pay down more than $31 million in bonds to help fund the project. Construction is scheduled to begin by October and won't be finished until early 2022.
Harber has repeatedly said the bridge budget is in flux and based on "conservative" revenue forecasts that assume reductions in most income streams. Museum school income is projected to decline despite hopes that additional space in the temporary location in the Riverdale neighborhood -- at Cantrell Road and Riverfront Drive -- will allow classes to grow, for instance.
The budget does not account for a "main stage" children's theater season, but Harber said talks continue with potential partners to find a suitable location. Should the Arts Center find a partner, hosting a more traditional theater season would boost income and spending.
Plans for next year include an expanded touring theater season and account for smaller shows at the Riverdale location.
"This is not an exact science," board President Merritt Dyke said. "We are hopeful we're close to getting this right."
The fiscal 2020 budget also includes a couple of staff-related "placeholders," or money set aside for potential spending.
One is for targeted raises for specific jobs, designed to boost those positions closer to the market rate, rather than across-the-board hikes, Harber said.
A second is to pay the salary for a new full-time executive director beginning Jan. 1. This placeholder, Harber said, is also a conservative forecast. Harber said he does not know when a new director will be hired.
Harber, the museum's chief financial officer, has been its interim director since last summer, when Todd Herman departed for a new job at The Mint Museum in Charlotte, N.C. Harber has repeatedly said he does not want the full-time job.
Monday's meeting was the first held in the Arts Center's interim location, which is the former Walmart grocery on Cantrell.
Trustees who took a walking tour of the building saw that it was largely unfurnished -- renovation continues -- but has taken shape. Newly installed walls set aside space for museum school classes, theater department work, a multiuse area and office space.
The Arts Center's MacArthur Park location will close to the public June 30. Staff will move in early August.
Ongoing museum school classes will wrap up in late August, and the next quarter of classes will start Sept. 14 at the Riverdale location.
Metro on 06/18/2019