Quality of Life

Superior Quality of Life Enhances Central Arkansas’s Appeal

Visual Arts

Located in historic MacArthur Park, the Arkansas Arts Center features elegant art galleries that showcase the Center’s acclaimed collection.

For more than 30 years, the Arkansas Arts Center has been steadfastly committed to building a collection of unique works on paper, primarily American and European, from the Renaissance to the present. Among the most recognizable works in the collection are sheets by Cézanne, van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alison Saar, Rembrandt and Rubens. The collection also features 135 drawings and watercolors by the Post-Impressionist Paul Signac, over 100 Post-Minimalist drawings, Arthur Dove’s Sketchbook “E” and nearly 80 works by Will Barnet.

Masterworks in the collection include paintings by Diego Rivera, Odilon Redon and Francesco Bassano, sculpture by Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson and Roy Lichtenstein, and prints by Rembrandt, Whistler and Dürer.

The second major area of the collection is contemporary objects in craft media, including teapots by contemporary artists, contemporary baskets, turned wood objects, studio glass, ceramics, metalwork and toys designed by artists. Among the highlights are works by Dale Chihuly, Albert Paley, Peter Voulkos and Dorothy Gill Barnes.

The Arkansas Arts Center hosts many prominent special exhibitions throughout the year. It also hosts the Museum School, which offers a unique learning environment for the arts for students of all ages. Classes offered include art history, drawing, jewelry, painting, photography, pottery and woodworking.

The Children’s Theatre, a professional theatre company, presents children’s classics for the stage September through May.

Best Impressions Restaurant, which serves a progressive global cuisine, offers a delicious lunch experience, while the Museum Shop features unique gifts and interesting works by regional artists.

Performing Arts

Little Rock boasts of more high quality performing arts groups than just about any city of its size in the country. Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre, Arkansas Festival Ballet, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Arkansas, Celebrity Attractions’ Broadway Series, Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, River City Men’s Chorus, UALR’s Opera and Theatre and Dance programs, and Wildwood Park for the Arts are just a sample of the region’s diverse performing arts organizations and venues.

Libraries

The 12-member Central Arkansas Library System has an annual attendance of 2.08 million, a circulation of 1.89 million, 789,400 print holdings and 42,921 audiovisual holdings.

Public libraries in the area include the Arkansas State Library (which includes the State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped), the 12-member Central Arkansas Library System, and the William F. Laman Library in North Little Rock.

Through the Gateway Card Project, a reciprocal borrowing agreement, an additional 1.5 million volumes in 57 libraries in 19 Arkansas counties are available to public library cardholders.

Academic libraries are at Arkansas Baptist College, Philander Smith College, Shorter College and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Special libraries include the Arkansas Arts Center Library, the Arkansas History Commission, Arkansas School for the Blind Library, Arkansas School for the Deaf Library, Arkansas Supreme Court Library, Little Rock Air Force Base Library, UALR Law School Library (which contains the Pulaski County Law Library), and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library.

Local Attractions

The William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park, La Petite Roche (the original Little Rock), Historic Arkansas Museum, Old State House Museum, River Market District, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Aerospace Education Center and IMAX Theater, State Capitol, Little Rock Zoo, Murray Lock and Dam and the Big Dam Bridge, Villa Marre (featured on Designing Women), Riverfront Park, Arkansas Arts Center, Decorative Arts Museum, Wild River Country, EMOBA (The Museum of Black Arkansans and Performing Arts Center), the Old Mill (featured in opening credits of Gone With The Wind), Central High School Museum Visitors Center, the USS Razorback submarine at the Maritime Museum, Little Rock Visitor Information Center at Historic Curran Hall, Museum of Discovery and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center are just a few of the many attractions in the Little Rock area. For more information, call the Little Rock Convention Center and Visitors Bureau, 501.376.4781, or the North Little Rock Visitors Bureau, 501.758.1424.

Trolley

The $19.5 million, 2.5-mile River Rail project began operating in October 2004. The trolley connects the Little Rock and North Little Rock downtowns with a classic streetcar line and gives downtown tourists and citizens trolley service for the first time since Christmas Eve of 1947.

Each electric street car holds 44 passengers when seated and 80 while standing. The service operates from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. until midnight Thursday through Saturday; and 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday. The cost per roundtrip is $0.50.

River Market

The Little Rock River Market, a $3.5 million development on President Clinton Avenue, opened in 1996 as the first step toward the creation of a cultural and entertainment district in downtown Little Rock. Since its creation, the River Market District has been a major part of the revitalization of Little Rock’s downtown riverfront. The area has become a center of activity for restaurants, cultural and tourist attractions, and unique shops and businesses. The River Market’s two pavilions house the farmers’ market, open on Tuesdays and Saturdays, while merchants in the Market Hall offer a variety of products and edibles throughout the week.

Parks

Little Rock touts 52 parks with more than 5,000 acres, while North Little Rock boasts 12, including the 1,575-acre Burns Park, one of the largest municipal parks in the nation. There are also many state and national parks within a 60-mile radius of Little Rock that provide recreation and camping facilities, including Petit Jean State Park, DeGray Lake Resort State Park, Lake Ouachita State Park, the Ouachita National Forest and Pinnacle Mountain State Park.

Sports

Central Arkansas is home to the Arkansas Travelers, a Class AA minor league farm club of the Anaheim Angels. Since 2007, the Travelers have been playing at the new Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Alltel Arena is the home of the Arkansas Twisters of the Arena Football arenafootball2 League. The season runs from April through July, with possible home playoff games in August. Fans can watch the team’s new Head Coach Chris Siegfried hopefully lead the Twisters to its first ArenaCup Championship. The University of Arkansas Razorback Basketball Team also plays annually in Alltel Arena.

The UALR Trojans, an NCAA Division 1 basketball team, play in the new 5,600-seat Jack Stephens Center on the UALR campus. UALR also has 15 Division-I athletic programs with the soccer team playing at Burns Park in North Little Rock, and the baseball team playing at Gary Hogan Field.

In 2008, UALR and Alltel Arena hosted two rounds of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament and Alltel Arena hosted the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament. Two University of Arkansas Razorback football games are held each year at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.

Lakes & Rivers

The Arkansas River, navigable from just east of Tulsa to the Mississippi River, flows between the downtowns of Little Rock and North Little Rock. Several lakes in the Little Rock area provide excellent fishing, sailing and other water activities. They include Lake Maumelle, Lake Winona, Lake Conway, Greers Ferry Lake, Lake Ouachita, Lake Hamilton, Lake Catherine and DeGray Lake.

William J. Clinton Presidential Center

As the anchor to Little Rock’s River Market District, the Clinton Presidential Center is located on the banks of the Arkansas River within a beautifully landscaped public park. With the largest presidential archives in American history, the interactive exhibits, complete with a full scale replica of the oval office and cabinet room, provide an exciting and educational experience for visitors of all ages.

Since opening in 2004, the Center continues to be a catalyst of change, helping to foster an unprecedented economic revitalization in downtown Little Rock while encouraging eco-friendly construction around the country. As the only presidential library certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, the Center is an example to other architectural structures. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

Special center features include:

• Multi-purpose Great Hall which seats 220 (ideal for receptions)
• Indoor-outdoor Café overlooking the Arkansas River (seats 100 indoors)
• Classrooms
• 80-seat theater
• Replicas of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room
• 20,000 square feet of museum exhibit space (permanent and temporary) which can be used for large receptions
• Temporary exhibit gallery which showcases several national exhibits throughout the year
• Park pavilion with restrooms and eating area
• On-site parking for more than 300 vehicles
• On-site school bus and tour bus parking
• Quality hotels and restaurants within walking distance
• Short walks on President Clinton Avenue to:
  o Little Rock’s River Market, the city’s popular cultural, residential, retail and entertainment district
  o The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Center, with over 225,000 square feet of meeting space o The main branch of the Central Arkansas Library System
  o The Old State House Museum, where President Clinton announced his candidacy in 1991 and where he celebrated election night victories in 1992 and 1996; and
  o The Historic Arkansas Museum.

Adjacent to the main building is the University of Arkansas, Clinton School of Public Service. Housed in a restored 1899 passenger train depot, the Clinton School offers a master’s degree in public service. Both the Clinton Presidential Center and the Clinton School of Public Service are located in the city’s 30-acre Clinton Presidential Park.

The presidential park contains an amphitheater for family enjoyment and walking/bicycle trails. There are plans to restore and convert the Rock Island Railroad Bridge, spanning the Arkansas River adjacent to the Clinton Center, for pedestrian and bicycle use.