Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
30 and Thriving
WAC finds its niche on stage and in classroom
When Patricia Relph moved to Northwest Arkansas in 1980, the Walton Arts Center was barely a gleam in anybody’s eye. The first Walton Arts Center Council wasn’t formed until 1986, and Bill Mitchell wasn’t hired as the first executive director until late in 1987. More than a few people in Fayetteville wondered if the big hole in the ground at the corner of West Avenue and Dickson Street would ever be anything but raw dirt.
But the arts scene was already thriving, as Relph — who has been arts learning specialist at WAC since 1999 and was a teaching artist before that — remembers clearly. Northwest Arkansas had a symphony — then called NASO — Opera in the Ozarks, a busy University Theatre, concerts not only at George’s Majestic Lounge but in venues like Barnhill Arena and ballrooms at the Hilton and the Mountain Inn and community theaters like the Arts Center of the Ozarks in Springdale and Rogers Little Theater. Films like “The Blue and the Gray” were being made; new theatrical works were being developed at the Mount Sequoyah New Play Retreat; and a professional theater company, Ozark Stage Works, was waiting in the wings.
“Our community and business leaders must have been confident that a new performing arts center would be a central place for much of this good activity,” Relph speculates. “And it has been.
“In the late 1980s, the Walton Family, the University of Arkansas and the city of Fayetteville each individually realized the need for an auditorium or a community arts facility that could accommodate major touring shows, local and regional performing acts and even corporate meetings,” she explains. “As each group explored the options, it became apparent that there was potential to work together.”
Thanks to that collaboration, the Walton Family Foundation, the UA and the city contributed $9 million, an additional $7 million was raised from the private sector, and a $3 million endowment was set aside for operations, allowing the Walton Arts Center to open debt-free on April 26, 1992.
According to a history provided by WAC, the Walton Arts Center’s first season saw 55 performances of 42 shows, and the Broadway shows, although partial-week engagements, were the first of their kind in Northwest Arkansas.
“In our 30th season, we will host 123 performances of 60 shows,” says WAC spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson. “We have 56 performances of Broadway alone this season — and they are all week-long or two-week engagements. Ticket sales for the current 2021-22 season are 77,000.”
“The mission of Walton Arts Center has
been steadfast,” says Relph. “We continue to bring great artists and entertainers from around the world to Northwest Arkansas, connecting and engaging people through inspiring arts experiences.”
Relph says the educational component of the arts center has always been “a fundamental part of who we are,” starting with community leaders like Billie Jo Starr and Frank Sharp, “and others, who know that we are all life-long learners in and through the arts.” Even before the doors opened, “in 1991 Walton Arts Center, along with Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative, joined nine Partnership Teams and the John
F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in order to increase students’ access to the arts through professional development for teachers.”
“The arts teach us how to be learners,” says Relph, who is known to thousands of current and previous students as “Dr. Pat.” “Students need to be critical and creative thinkers. The discipline of the arts helps us practice those kinds of thinking. Students need to be collaborative, empathetic team members. The arts teach us how to work collaboratively. Students need to engage in real-life activities, where they can safely think, share, innovate and create on a daily basis. The craft and practice of the arts helps us do that. Children need to strengthen all parts of the brain. The arts help us think and solve problems, logically, linguistically, spatially, kinesthetically, musically and with trust
in ourselves and each other. Educational research supports this.
“We have a goal that every student in Northwest Arkansas can experience a Walton Arts Center educational program,” she adds. “Walton Arts Center knows that arts education has positive effects on student learning and social and emotional intelligence.”
“Our Colgate Classroom Series has allowed more than 900,000 students and teachers to see shows at free or reduced costs,” Wilson enumerates. “Participation in the program became free in 2020.
“We have trained 296 teachers in arts integration through the smART Residency Program, which has directly impacted 7,420 students and provided professional development and additional training opportunities to 17,497 teachers, which has impacted
437,425 students.
“Walton Arts Center has also hosted more than 700 school and community master classes, where artists teach those interested in the performing arts, many times for free.
“In total, Walton Arts Center has proudly raised more than $24 million for arts education and outreach in Northwest Arkansas through the support of more than 8,500 families and 430 corporations and foundations.”
Since her arrival at WAC, Relph says, “the changes are in scope and scale. We grow by conceiving and creating greater projects that are of duration and involve many artists. We present programs indoors and outdoors. Our aim is to engage all cultures and communities, to reach audiences broadly through inspiring arts experiences.”