Culture

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.