WAC May Purchase AMP by Next Season
The Arkansas Music Pavilion may soon be part of the Walton Arts Center. According to fayettevilleflyer.com, the facilities committee recommended last week to the board of directors that the Walton Arts Center purchase the venue, familiar to anyone who visits the Northwest Arkansas Mall during the summer months. On Tuesday, the board approved the purchase, but more negotiations and research must take place before the decision is finalized.
Chief Financial Officer Tim Vogt says the purchase will bring in a greater variety of entertainers and increase ticket sales. The organization hopes to move into a larger space in the coming years, and the AMP will offer insight on the move’s potential success. “We need to begin to develop an audience base that might not be buying tickets now, but could become Walton Arts Center ticket buyers as we begin to move into a new hall and try to fill it,” Vogt said.
Vogt says the WAC wants to keep current AMP co-owner Brian Crowne under contract to manage the space. “For this to work, we’d need a 3-5 year agreement with Brian,” he said. “He has basically taken a tent in a parking lot and made it more than that.”
If the purchase is made, the AMP could be under WAC ownership as early as next season.