Little Rock arts center's '19 gala canceled

Timing conflicts with renovation

Expansion and renovation plans for the Arkansas Arts Center include this covered walkway linking a new north-facing entrance at East Ninth Street and a south-facing entrance that looks out over MacArthur Park.
Expansion and renovation plans for the Arkansas Arts Center include this covered walkway linking a new north-facing entrance at East Ninth Street and a south-facing entrance that looks out over MacArthur Park.

The Arkansas Arts Center has canceled Tabriz, its major biennial fundraiser scheduled for April, because staff will be preparing for groundbreaking on the museum's overhaul, interim executive director Laine Harber said.

A two-night event held in odd-numbered years, Tabriz won't return "in its traditional format" next year, but "other forms of celebration" are planned instead, Harber said.

Work on the $70 million expansion and renovation is scheduled to begin in October 2019. The museum must be emptied prior to construction, and it has a packed summer calendar to maximize the number of programs prior to move-out, Harber said.

"As we really started to look at the timing of Tabriz [and] continuing to do exhibitions, museum school and theater and all of our educational programming, and the resources involved with Tabriz and to move out of this building just a few months after that, we just realized, it really was not feasible to do," Harber said.

Next year's version would have marked the 26th such gala. Last year the black-tie affair featured a performance by members of the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys.

Tabriz was forecast to raise more than $600,000 toward the $7.3 million in day-to-day Arts Center expenses, according to the museum's budget.

The museum will make up for the lost revenue with other celebration events, which Tabriz sponsors have agreed to underwrite, Harber said after a Monday board meeting. He also noted savings from vacant positions.

"We'll have a fun time saying goodbye to the building as we know it today in lieu of a major fundraiser at this time," Harber said.

The museum is in the final stages of reaching agreements with partners throughout the state to host Arts Center programs during construction -- deals that could be finalized by the end of the year, Harber said. The revamped museum is scheduled to open in early 2022.

Additionally, Harber said the 61st annual Delta exhibition, a popular regional show featuring artists from throughout the Mississippi Delta, will open May 2, nearly a month prior to its initially announced May 31 opening date.

Metro on 10/23/2018

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