Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts moves opening to spring 2023

Officials aren't saying why opening was postponed from fall

FILE — The original facade, shown Monday Jan. 25, 2021 in Little Rock, will be part of the north entrance at the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. (Democrat-Gazette file photo/Staton Breidenthal)
FILE — The original facade, shown Monday Jan. 25, 2021 in Little Rock, will be part of the north entrance at the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. (Democrat-Gazette file photo/Staton Breidenthal)

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts on Wednesday announced that the museum will now have its grand opening in spring of 2023.

It's the second postponement on the museum’s opening date, which had originally been set for May 2022.

In June 2021, museum officials said they would require more time to allow for additional improvements to the building and grounds and to complete the museum’s $142 million capital campaign. At the time, they revised the target opening date to fall 2022.

Museum officials did not immediately provide a reason for the latest postponement.

The expansion and renovation project involves rebuilding much of what had been the Arkansas Arts Center on East Ninth Street in Little Rock’s MacArthur Park. Construction began in 2019.

Museum Executive Director Victoria Ramirez did note in a news release that once the museum opens, displays of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation’s permanent collection and “a series of innovative temporary exhibitions” would include works that have been recently acquired “and have never been seen by the public.” She cited “a combination of generous private philanthropy and public funding” for the acquisitions.

Since the 2019 groundbreaking, the foundation has acquired 811 new works, including pieces by Hans Hoffman and Andrew Wyeth and 500 enamel works donated by the Enamel Arts Foundation, said Warren Stephens, the museum foundation's chairman, in the news release. 

Stephens is also co-chair of the capital campaign, labeled “Reimagining the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts,” which has included a $31,245,000 contribution from the city of Little Rock, generated through a hotel tax revenue bond approved by Little Rock voters.

Lead private donors include the Windgate Foundation, Harriet and Warren Stephens, Terri and Chuck Erwin, the state of Arkansas and the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust.

The museum design is by Chicago-based architecture firm Studio Gang, with New York-based SCAPE Landscape Architecture handling the extensive landscaping in MacArthur Park.

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