Arts and Entertainment

Walton Arts Center

To the delight of local residents, the Walton Arts Center is the cultural centerpiece of Northwest Arkansas - a beautiful arts and entertainment complex located in Fayetteville. A most unique aspect of the Walton Arts Center is the way that it was built - through an unusual partnership between public and private sectors, negotiations, compromise and a vision that produced a facility that enriches the cultural life of Northwest Arkansas.

Walton Arts Theater

Offering a year-round schedule for all ages, The Walton Arts Center attracts nationally prominent theater, concerts, ballets, dance troupes and other events. Recent performers include Riverdance, Michael Bouble, Bill Cosby, B. B. King, and touring companies of "CATS", "Les Miserables", "42nd Street", "The Producers", "The Graduate", "Evita," "A Chorus Line," and "Chicago." It is also home to the respected North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra which recently celebrated their 50th season. The adjacent Nadine Baum Learning Center provides studio art and drama workshop experiences for all ages. The diversity of programming, the scale of touring productions and the variety of arts opportunities are unparalleled anywhere in the state.

Presentations at the Arts Center range from the sounds of Miles Davis and John Coltrane to Blues Clues Live. For the romantic in all of us, Sarah Chang combines her beautiful voice with the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

Workshops range from After School Art, classes on How to Use Your Camera, Darkroom Studio instructions, Experimental Drawing to Gardening.

University of Arkansas Fine Arts Center

When the Fine Arts Center at the University of Arkansas opened in 1951, the Arkansas Gazette hailed it as "the most handsome building in the South." Under one roof were dance, music, art, drama, and architecture, a series of connected spaces in which the arts could flourish. Designed by Edward D. Stone, a major figure in 20th-century architecture, the Fine Arts Center today continues this tradition, hosting hundreds of concerts, University Theatre productions, and art exhibitions each year. Included in the art gallery's permanent collection are prints by Salvador Dali and mobiles by Alexander Calder. Each year, the gallery features lectures and traveling exhibits by noted artists. In the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, patrons enjoy concerts by talented faculty groups such as the Lyrique Quintet and the Fulbright Trio, as well as by renowned guest artists and faculty members such as Jura Margulis. In the recently renovated University Theatre, audiences are treated to several main stage productions each year, from Shakespearian tragedies to Broadway comedies and musicals. Enjoy performances in this historic building, built as a tribute to the lasting power of the arts to enrich our lives.

The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences documents the key role played by the nonprofit arts and culture industry in strengthening our nation's economy. This study demonstrates that the nonprofit arts and culture industry is an economic driver in communities - a growth industry that supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is the cornerstone of tourism. Click on image for full report commissioned by 156 communities/regions/state, including Fayetteville/Northwest Arkansas:

North Arkansas Symphony

The North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (NASO), under the direction of Music Director/Conductor Jeannine Wagar, actively promotes professionalism in music and love of a good musical time with a regular performance schedule at the Walton Arts Center. The symphony offers an outreach program that includes the NASO Youth Orchestra, the premier level for the most accomplished players. It is a full orchestra of strings, winds, brass and percussion. It mostly performs original selections from standard orchestra repertoire. Philharmonia Strings, a string orchestra that prepares students for the Youth Orchestra, includes violin, viola, cello and bass. The group is made up of members with prior ensemble experience and who have achieved a certain level of proficiency on their instruments. The Youth Star Ensemble is an orchestra of violin, viola, cello and bass for the youngest students at a beginning level of performance and instruction. Philharmonia Winds, a woodwind ensemble made up of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and french horn, works both independently and in conjunction with Philharmonia Strings.

Dickson Street Entertainment District in Downtown Fayetteville

A vibrant downtown is a confluence of a city's culture and people. It speaks of history, a sense of art and a philosophy of creativity, and abounds with viable businesses and residential neighborhoods. We believe the viability of a community's downtown district is a direct reflection of its health and well being. Fayetteville is alive and well and getting better all the time through the leadership of the Fayetteville Downtown Partners.


Fayetteville Downtown Partners (FDP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continuing vitality of our downtown district. They are the champions for the newly created Downtown Master Plan, a plan that further strengthens Fayetteville's place as one of the most livable cities in the country.

FDP's mission is defined by the Dover Kohl Master Plan and the capacities of the downtown partnering entities and institutions. The partners include the City of Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas, the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Neighborhood Associations, the Fayetteville Economic Development Council, Inc., the Walton Arts Center, the Downtown Merchants Association, the Fayetteville School District, the Fayetteville Public Library, the Fayetteville Housing Authority, as well as many financial institutions and developers in the area.

FDP's priorities include:

• Develop and apply a cohesive strategy to establish the district as the premier cultural and entertainment destination in Northwest Arkansas
• Encourage mixed-use development and adaptive reuse and promote historic preservation
• Support a healthy and diverse mix of businesses within the district
• Promote healthy and unique downtown living
• Encourage and foster the unique atmosphere of the district

Farmers Market

The Farmers Market on the Fayetteville Square

The Fayetteville Farmers' Market is an open-air, producers-only market that operates from 7am to 1pm around the Fayetteville downtown square on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from the first Saturday of April through the last Saturday before Thanksgiving. (It is open Saturdays only in November.) While garden fresh produce and plants are the mainstay, high quality crafts also abound. Recently added to the market was locally grown processed food items.

Arkansas Air Museum

The historic aircraft in the Arkansas Air Museum are unusual among museum exhibits because most of them still fly. There are few "stuffed birds" in this collection. From world-famous racing planes of the 1920s and 1930s to an early airliner, the planes are maintained in flying condition.

The museum is located at the Fayetteville Airport, Highway 71 on the south end of town.

Even the vast, all-wood white hangar which houses the bright colored old airplanes and static displays is a part of American history. Former headquarters for one of the United States' many aviator-training posts during the Second World War, it is one of the few remaining examples of 1940s era aircraft hangars. Static displays range from the golden age of aviation to the jet age, including Vietnam-era Army helicopters and a Navy carrier fighter.

Terra Studios

Terra Studios is located in the Ozark Mountains near Fayetteville, Arkansas. Here, artisans produce glass and pottery home wares, gifts and fine art pieces. Terra visitors can stroll along the wooded paths through the mural garden, explore the pottery showroom and watch skilled glassworkers create the now famous Bluebird of Happiness®.