Arkansas Arts Center moves Delta Exhibition online amid pandemic

In what it calls a “creative reimagining” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Arkansas Arts Center announced its upcoming Delta Exhibition will be hosted in a digital format.

The exhibition will be available for online viewing beginning June 19.

The Arts Center, like many other entities reliant on monetary contributions, has struggled financially during the covid-19 crisis. Earlier this month, the Arts Center furloughed more than onethird of its full-time staff through the middle of May.

The latest circumstances have resulted in the Delta Exhibition being presented in a way it never has before since its founding in 1958.

Maria Davison, a spokeswoman for the Arts Center, said the exhibition is now part of the center’s new digital engagement initiative called “Arkansas Arts Center Amplified.” She said that the new format provides “increased accessibility to an exhibition that represents the entire Mississippi Delta region.”

The Delta Exhibition is the second major Arts Center event to move to a digital format. Last week, it was announced that the Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition, scheduled for May 9 through Aug. 2, will also be presented online.

The Delta Exhibition is one of the longest-running juried art exhibitions in the area. Executive Director Victoria Ramirez called it “an integral piece of the Arkansas Arts Center’s legacy.”

She also called the new digital approach an “innovative solution,” one that is vital at a time when so many people are practicing social distancing.

Originally, the plans were to have the exhibition split among the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock and the Thea Foundation and Argenta Gallery in downtown North Little Rock. Those locations, as well as the ACANSA Arts Gallery in North Little Rock, maintained their partnerships with the Arts Center for the Delta Exhibit, according to a media release.

Instead of visiting those locations, people will be able to view the exhibits online.