Community. Lifelong Learning. The Arts.
With one final chop of the two-foot scissors splitting the purple ribbon, UCA Downtown officially opened.
An estimated 300 attendees roared with cheers and applause welcoming this extension of the University of Central Arkansas to downtown Conway.
“I think this sets a record. We normally have about 20 people at a ribbon cutting,” said Brad Lacy ’94, president and chief executive officer of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and UCA Board of Trustees member. “Clearly the community voted with their feet this morning. I think people are very interested in UCA firmly planting themselves in the community.”
UCA Downtown is a 2500-square-foot facility with space for meetings, small gatherings and lectures and displaying artwork.
“It’s like the way they formed the Reese’s peanut butter cup. You put two great things together and this happens,” said Conway Mayor Tab Townsell ’83. “When you put UCA in downtown Conway, the scale of vitality that UCA has, and put that in a redeveloping vital downtown, it is a perfect match of energy.”
Located in the heart of downtown Conway on Oak Street near community fixtures like Bob’s Grill and Fletcher Smith’s Jewelers, UCA Downtown was the vision of President Tom Courtway.
Courtway tasked Shelley Mehl, associate vice president for the Division of Outreach and Community Engagement, with executing the idea.
“I went out and kind of started looking to see who else does this,” Mehl said.
She found several existing models as many larger universities have a presence in downtown areas. The University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia was of particular interest, she said. That space housed community activities, classroom space and event space.
“That was kind of inspiring for me,” she said. “And I said, ‘Okay, I’m getting this,’ I began to see what President Courtway had in mind.”
UCA Downtown hosted an Open House event in December 2015 to begin introducing the space to the community, then officially opened with the ribbon-cutting in January 2016.
Mehl said the community responded by immediately calling to book events and activities into the summer of 2016. She said one event is already booked for February 2017.
Mehl said that people were waiting “for an eclectic, perhaps more intimate space” like UCA Downtown, with all the swank of an uptown New York City loft complete with bright, expansive areas anchored by exposed brick walls, cherry wood beams and aluminum-tiled ceilings.
Fall 2015 graduate Nick Coltharp complimented the vintage charm of the space. “A lot of students spend a lot of their time at the coffee shops and at the donut shops and everything downtown and so it’s perfect that the University has an area in the downtown now that can appeal to the younger demographic who want to get back to the 50s style of things and the vintage style,” he said.
The Downtown Partnership hosted one of the first events in the space with a gathering of some 50 local merchants and business owners.
Zeteo Coffee was one of the businesses at the breakfast, owned by Jon Mitchell and his wife, Trina ’02. “I see this as a great partnership opportunity for us,” Trina said. “We just have a heart for this community and for this town, and we really hope to partner with people who share that same vision.”
Downtown Conway visitors will also be able to attend evening community education courses such as cake decorating, tai chi, public speaking or dancing.
“It’s another strong advocate for supporting that 24-hour lifestyle in downtown,” said Kim Williams ’85, executive director of the Downtown Partnership.
Williams said that downtown Conway routinely enjoys visitors from Atkins, Russellville, Lonoke, Maumelle, Little Rock, Searcy and other cities within an approximate 50-mile radius. “I just see even more people being in downtown,” Williams said.
While UCA Downtown includes the meeting and gathering spaces, the facility will also house an art gallery in the front section of the building.
“We want to share works made by beginning art students, as well as those about to graduate,” said Dr. Jeff Young, chair of the Department of Art.
Young expects to have at least three exhibits a year — one exhibit per semester and one exhibit in the summer.
“The artwork in the front, anybody who walks by, it’s gonna catch your attention,” said Kristy Grunwald, account executive with Crain Media Group, after she visited UCA Downtown. “So even if you don’t know what it is, it’s gonna make you stop and look at it.”
Art faculty will showcase a representative sample of works in different media such as sculpture, painting, ceramics, printmaking, photography, digital graphics works, fibers and more.
“Exhibiting work in the downtown space allows community members to see examples of student work if they aren’t able to come to campus often,” Young said.
A University employee will staff UCA Downtown to welcome visitors and answer questions. A kiosk will also be set up to display campus information and a full breadth of its activities, according to Mehl.
“That’s really how I see this — as another way to tell UCA’s story,” she said.
UCA Downtown Ribbon Cutting Gallery
