The opening date for the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts has been pushed back to the spring of 2023, the museum announced in a news release Wednesday.
The museum's foundation had previously planned to open the new museum to the public in the fall, but because of changes in design and supply chain issues the grand opening was pushed back, said Victoria Ramirez, the museum's executive director.
"The scope of the project has changed slightly -- I think for the better -- and you compound that with [the] supply chain and our needs as a museum," Ramirez said. "Trying to open by the end of this calendar year was just unrealistic."
Ramirez said design plans for the museum changed with the addition of 1,000 square feet of gallery space from what was supposed to be for "back of house" use. Another space meant for "back of house use" will instead be used as a space that can be rented out.
The museum's staff will likely move into the new building in the coming months, Ramirez said, but a lot of work needs to be done before the building can be opened to the public, which includes moving artwork in and setting up the museum's office space, restaurant and gift shop.
The museum will announce a grand opening date in the fall, Ramirez said.
"We have to move everything. We have to move the collection in. We have to prepare the restaurant, the store -- every aspect of the museum," Ramirez said. "We really just want to be sure we give ourselves enough time to do all that."
It's not the first time the museum has had to push back the opening of the new building. In June last year, the museum announced it would push its grand opening for May 2022 back, saying workers needed more time for added improvement.
Workers broke ground on the new museum in 2019 as the Arkansas Arts Center rebranded itself as the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. With the museum's foundation promising to build a $142 million world-class art facility in Little Rock's MacArthur Park, voters approved funding for it through a hotel tax bond measure.
The new museum will feature an expanded gallery and glass-enclosed "cultural living room" that will overlook Ninth Street.
In total, the city of Little Rock is contributing $31.2 million to the project with contributions from private donors. Originally the new building was projected to cost $46 million during early discussions in 2015, but ambitions for the project expanded and private donations followed.
"This has been an incredible civic undertaking, enabled by the great success of our capital campaign, which continues to bring so many generous people together," Harriet Stephens, a member of the museum's foundation board, said in a statement.