Almost 300 people lined Main Street waiting to get into the new Arkadelphia Arts Center.
The arts center is the cultivation of a community desire for a place for art to thrive.
“The Arkadelphia Arts Center is dedicated to bringing the arts to the community and the community to the arts,” said Summer Bruch, professor of art and a board member on the Clark County Arts and Humanities Council.
The Arkadelphia Arts Center’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Anyone can go and see local art exhibits free of charge.
Located at 625 Main Street next to Dino’s Main Street Cafe, the arts center’s location has a rich heritage — the building originally housed the circa 1932 Royal Theatre.
“After the theater closed, it was bought and turned into a screen-printing shop,” said Denise Parkinson, executive director of the center. “The arts center will, in the end, showcase all the forms of art, including theatrical, cinematography, musical and visual.”
Parkinson said several more renovations are planned for the building. She said beams put up for the printing shop will be removed, allowing the back half of the arts center to house a community theater seating about 50 people. The theater could potentially host film festivals and would be a place for the Arkadelphia Little Theatre to perform. Renovations will take place after the building’s electrical systems are updated.
The arts center’s first big exhibit will be on display beginning Saturday, Nov. 5, with a grand opening planned from 2-4 p.m. The exhibit will be a combination of Battle of the Ravine artwork and a clay piece installation artwork. All of the work will be on exhibit during November.
“The [local] children were told stories about the Battle of the Ravine and its history, and then they were told to create art about the Battle of the Ravine,” Parkinson said.
The artworks will be judged and the winners will be announced at the Nov. 11 Ravine Rally. “It says a lot about the community’s talents and generosity that arts educators and student artists collaborated to create the center’s first donated art piece as well as the themed exhibit.”
“We will have Hamid create a mobile while people are looking at the Battle of the Ravine artwork,” Parkinson said.
Hamid Ebrahimifar is an artist from Little Rock. The mobile will be constructed of clay pieces created by children. The mobile will be moved to the storefront next to the arts center for the month of November.
“Arkadelphia is a talented community,” said Farrel Ford, director of the Caddos River Art Guild and board member. “With the combination of two universities, public schools and local artists who make a living off their art, it is time that there be a place for all their art to be on exhibit.”
Many people are deserving of thanks in the creation of the arts center.
“The arts center is really an umbrella organization covering many organizations controlled by the Clark County Arts and Humanities Council,” Parkinson said.
There are representatives on the council from Arkadelphia Philharmonic, Arkadelphia Poet’s and Writers Guild, Arkadelphia Little Theatre, Clark County Historical Association, Caddo River Art Guild, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Clark County Public Schools and local residents.
Support for the Clark County Arts and Humanities Council is provided in part by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Picture courtesy of Arkadelphia Arts Center.
