Arkansas Symphony to Open New State-of-the-Art, Community-Centered Home

In Thursday’s (9/12) National Public Radio, Daniel Breen reports, “Classical music is a hit in Arkansas, where the symphony orchestra will have a new $12 million home. The Stella Boyle Smith Music Center is the Arkansas Symphony Orchestras’s first permanent home in its 58-year history…. A new community-focused model has helped keep classical music alive. Breen: CEO Christina Littlejohn … is presiding over the opening of a new $12 million headquarters in downtown Little Rock … just steps away from the Arkansas River and Bill Clinton’s presidential library … Floor-to-ceiling windows invite passersby to look inside. Littlejohn: People can watch us making music, and they can watch their students make music. I think you can actually hear us, too, outside. That’s definitely part of the design. The whole design was centered around: how can we really be the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra?… Music Director Geoffrey Robson: In this day and age, a symphony orchestra has to be a community partner and be part of the area where we live in order to cultivate the growth of our art form.” In the story, Simon Woods, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, points out that orchestras are heavily committed to community work, and this building offers a model for how to bring it to life in brick and mortar.