- Walton Arts Center
- A rendering of the new Arkansas Music Pavilion, to be located in Rogers.
The Walton Arts Center announced this evening that the organization will move its Arkansas Music Pavilion from Fayetteville to a new, permanent location in Rogers. The outdoor venue had been located at the Washington County Fairgrounds since last year, after the WAC was unable to come to a lease agreement with the new owners of the AMP’s original home at the Northwest Arkansas Mall.
Construction on the new outdoor venue is set to begin in August, with a completion date expected in summer 2014. The site is near I-540 and Pinnacle Hills. Land for the new AMP was donated by Hunt Ventures Inc., and according to the WAC, 91 percent of the funding for the $11 million project has already been committed. The new venue will be able to seat 3,000 under a tarp roof, with space for an additional 3,000 folks on the lawn.
I think it’s fair to say a good number of people in Fayetteville are feeling a bit sore about the move, especially in light of the fact that the WAC announced in late 2010 that it would build its new 2,200-seat performing arts center not in Fayetteville but in Bentonville. There’s some lively discussion over at the Fayetteville Flyer about the move, as well as the WAC board’s recent proposal to restructure the organization. It’s also worth noting that not everybody is sad to see the venue leave Fayetteville. Several Flyer commenters who live within the vicinity of the fairgrounds said they could hear every note of every concert at the AMP. You gotta wonder what the reaction might be from the tony gated communities of Pinnacle Hills to hearing Ted Nugent or whoever playing at top volume at 11 p.m. on a Thursday night.
The WAC’s press release is after the jump.