Walton Art Center in Fayetteville

Fayetteville is northwest Arkansas’ biggest city and a paradise for art and theater lovers living in or traveling to Arkansas. The city isn’t renowned for art – it’s more famous for producing the country’s best in track and field – but for those who know where to look, Fayetteville has more than enough to satisfy the most ardent art enthusiasts.

Walton Arts Center is Fayetteville’s largest entertainment and performing arts hub. It has three performance spaces that present music, dance, and theater all year round. The center is also an architectural spectacle, winning several architectural awards in recent times.

This piece looks at Walton Arts Center and other places in Fayetteville where you can enjoy the performing arts.

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An Overview of Walton Arts Center

The Walton Art Center is an amazing place – one of my favorite places in Fayetteville. They have symphonies, Broadway productions, and all sorts of different events. It has won many architectural awards; it’s such a cool place.

One of the cool things they had this winter at Walton Arts Center was this kind of outdoor Winter Wonderland, where you could get drinks and hang out with friends. I really loved it – so cool and so fun.

Walton Arts Center has won many architectural awards for its design aspects. It’s worth checking out when you are in town.

Business Hours

Tickets for performances at Walton Art Center sell from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Friday and midday to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The online marketplace for tickets on Walton Art Center’s website doesn’t close. It contains information about the performances and detailed ticket prices.

Ticket Pricing

Ticket prices vary depending on the performance. Students are eligible for discounts on various shows chosen by the management. So, if you are a student looking to save money, enter the promo code provided on the website and enjoy the performances for cheap.

You can also get discounts when traveling as a group of 10 people or more. Non-attendance essentially means that you’ve donated money to the non-profit arts center. The center doesn’t refund tickets, but in certain circumstances, the management can allow you to watch the performance you’d paid for at a different time.

Parents should ensure that they know what their children are watching is appropriate. No firearms are allowed inside Walton Arts Center, and, as with many such establishments, you are encouraged to switch your phone off and desist from recording performances.

Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:

https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas

Other Places in Fayetteville To Enjoy the Performing Arts

If you’ve already been to Walton Arts Center and want to see what more the city offers in the performing arts department, visit the following places.

TheatreSquared

Traditionally, TheatreSquared was considered inferior to the Walton Arts Center, and some still hold that opinion. However, TheatreSquared has improved drastically, earning plaudits as a worthy contender for Walton Arts Center’s crown.

TheatreSquared stages more than 300 performances annually for thousands of local and international guests. The two stages are housed in an intimate building with a bar/cafe. The design improvements made to the building earned TheatreSquared architectural awards in 2020 and 2021.

TheatreSquared also won an Obie Award – the first in the state of Arkansas – for its pioneering work during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s one of the most enjoyable places to watch local productions, eat local cuisine, and sip local brews.

Walton Arts Center and TheatreSquared are located quite close to each other in downtown Fayetteville, so you can visit them both on the same day.

Faulkner Performing Arts Center

For decades, the University of Arkansas used the building housing the Faulkner Performing Arts Center for space research and sports. Jim and Joyce Faulkner’s donation turned the Gothic-style building into an arts center with a 500+ capacity.

With an emphasis on community-based projects, the Faulkner Performing Arts Center hosts all manner of performing arts events. It also trains Arkansas’ next generations of artists and performers and exposes students to the joys of the performing arts. The Faulkner Performing Arts Center website contains information about performances and ticket prices.

I recommend visiting the center during the day to admire the Ozark Mountains that backdrop the classic building.

Arts Live Theatre

Arts Live Theatre on Sang Avenue, Fayetteville, is dedicated to providing Arkansas youth with a chance to explore performing arts: children and youth below 18 years execute all the performances in Arts Live Theatre.

The target audience is children, but that shouldn’t dissuade you from giving Arts Live Theatre a fair shot. The quality of the performances will probably surprise you.

If you have a kid and are worried about exposing them to harmful content, take them to Arts Live Theatre, where most productions are appropriate for people of all ages.

The Artist’s Laboratory Theater

One of the hidden gems of northwest Arkansas is The Artist’s Laboratory Theater [Find a detailed list of pros and cons of settling in northwest Arkansas here]. It’s a collective of performers who engage the community in creating plays that drive social change.

The productions are meant to fuel conversations about issues affecting the Fayetteville community. The theater encourages people to participate in the production process and, when called upon, during performances.

Before the Artist’s Laboratory Theater found a permanent spot on S. College Avenue, it used to stage performances in DIY venues. Doing so strengthened ties to the community, but the management ditched that model for a traditional performance space.

If you’d like to engage in conversations about the community while watching fun and imaginative plays partly created by fellow citizens, contact The Artist’s Laboratory Theatre.

For more information about the performing arts hub, check out part 2 of my series of articles covering the Walton Art Center.

Conclusion

Walton’s Arts Center is perhaps the best place to enjoy the performing arts in Fayetteville. The best local and national productions host performances at Walton’s Arts Center.

TheatreSquared is the next-best place in Fayetteville for performing arts enthusiasts. If it continues its upward trajectory, TheatreSquared might usurp Walton’s Arts Center.

Fayetteville’s vibrant local performing arts scene entertains audiences in various theaters, including Faulkner Performing Arts Center and The Artist’s Laboratory Theater.