Dear Walton Arts Center friends and supporters,
It’s an exciting time at Walton Arts Center. As a valued patron, I wanted you to hear directly from me about the business that was conducted at the Walton Arts Center board meeting this afternoon.
Today, the Board of Directors took a step toward making a needed expansion of Walton Arts Center a reality. The Board approved a set of "Site Selection Criteria" that will be used to determine a location for building additional facilities. Before I go into detail, I’d like to give you some background.
As many of you know, in 2008 we completed a feasibility study to assess our expansion needs. The study confirmed that Walton Arts Center’s current spaces are heavily utilized—95% utilized, in fact. Because of this, we are limited in our ability to add more performances and serve more school children through our arts learning programs. Our community partners, like the University of Arkansas and local arts organizations, are also limited in what they can present and produce in our spaces. Simply put, we need more seats and more theaters to keep expanding our programs and serving as Arkansas’ premier center for the performing arts & entertainment.
The feasibility study recommended that, to meet these needs, we explore building two new theaters to compliment our current spaces: a 600 seat flexible space and a 2,100 + seat theater to add to our current complex of a 1200 seat and two 200 seat halls. As you may have heard me say over the past few months, we are not moving from our present location and facilities, but we certainly need to expand! Our vision for Walton Arts Center includes busy performance schedules in both our current theaters as well as additional facilities.
It’s also important to note that a decision on where to build the additional new facilities has not been made. At today’s board meeting, the Board of Directors approved a list of 15 prioritized site selection criteria that will help create an objective platform on which to review potential sites. The Board’s Facility Committee took great care in clearly defining and prioritizing the criteria so that, as we choose a location for our expanded facilities, we are able to go through a process that is objective, quantifiable and open, and that will ensure Walton Arts Center’s success for many years to come.
With each site, we will use the prioritized criteria to develop an overall assessment of that particular site. For example, does the site offer easy access to I-540 and allow cars to enter and exit the parking lot efficiently? Does the site create synergies with other cultural institutions or entertainment districts? Through this process, we hope to identify primary and secondary sites by early summer 2010 and have final site selection completed by late summer 2010.
For me, the most important message I wanted to share is that the process is just beginning, and the opportunities are incredibly exciting. I urge you to review the criteria and supporting documents, including a form that folks can fill out if they have sites to suggest. In addition, we are working directly with the various municipalities throughout Northwest Arkansas to ensure that we have identified all of the key locations for expansions. The form, the criteria, and additional information are on our website, www.waltonartscenter.org.
You have shown your passion for Walton Arts Center over our 18-year history, and we are extraordinarily grateful for your support and enthusiasm. I look forward to keeping you up to date and apprised of the latest news about our expansion plans as we move forward.
Sincerely,
Peter B. Lane
President/CEO
Walton Arts Center
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