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For decades, we knew it as the Arkansas Art Center and anchor of MacArthur Park, a jewel of the visual and performing arts at the edge of Little Rock's Quapaw Quarter.

It has a new name now, a new identity, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, though its mission remains the same.

To preserve, to encourage, to educate, to celebrate the creative.

Renovations and improvements, yes, but also a major expansion, the largest since the institution's founding almost a century ago, more than 130,000 additional square feet and at a total cost of more than $150 million.

What had become a civic stepchild by the late 1950s was rescued and revitalized by the late governor and Missus Winthrop Rockefeller.

Revitalized by its late Executive Director, Townsend Wolf and local benefactors, and now not repurposed but reimagined.

Hello again, everyone, and thanks so much for joining us.

After years of construction and updating, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts will formally open on April 22nd.

It's a milestone, a signal event in the evolution of city and state.

Perhaps even beyond It's executive Director Doctor Victoria Ramirez joins us now.

And Doctor, thanks very much for being with us.

I think by any standard, any measure, it is an auspicious day, an auspicious occasion.

And you have to be.

It was a long time coming.

It's certainly it's been a long time coming and we cannot wait to open our doors and welcome the public back to their museum.

It is in fact their museum.

I mean from its founding, at least in the in its modern iterations incarnations, it was always emphasized to be this is, this is Arkansas's Art Center, Arkansas's Museum of Fine Arts.

Now that's so true.

And I I appreciate your introduction of the museum as well.

You know, mentioning Governor Rockefeller, he was the one who said Arkansas needed to be in this institution's name.

And we needed to be an institution that had a statewide commitment.

And that commitment is to bring visual and performing arts experiences to all our Kansan.

And despite our name change, we are still Arkansas Museum and we still have Arkansas in our name and retain that commitment.

So not only do we look forward to opening our doors and having people.

Come visit us here in MacArthur Park.

We look forward to continuing to visit people in communities throughout the state and bring experiences to them.

Well, let's talk about the museum itself and its first new days.

What what can we expect to see?

What's up first?

Well, I, I love the term reimagined because that's really what we have been doing.

We have such a strong legacy to build on.

A legacy of a programming, a legacy of a strong arts collection, A legacy of a commitment to education through our children's theater and our art school.

And not only when people come through our doors will they see a reimagined building, but they'll experience reimagined programs as well, And so as we.

Prepared for the grand opening, as we thought about the types of programs that we were going to offer the community, we use that word, reimagined.

How do we build on our past successes?

How do we build on that legacy and create something new for a new audience and for a 21st century audience?

So people walk through our doors, they'll see our new building, they'll see a brand new presentation.

Of the foundation's collection.

They'll see new exhibitions, they'll see gleaming new studios for art making and they'll see our children's theater, our store, our restaurant.

It's it's really we are the full package.

When I speak with people outside the state any for that matter even in Arkansas about the institutions holding the museums holding, they're really quite surprised that the.

That the archive that the holdings are as extensive as as they are and you continue to build on that exactly.

You know you mentioned that we have been in MacArthur Park since since the very beginning, since 1937 and that's really when we started to build our permanent collection and the permanent collection right now stands at about 14,000 works of art.

It spans about 8 centuries of artistic production and includes works on paper.

It includes paintings, sculptures, craft, objects.

And really when people come in and they see the new permanent or the new installation of the permanent collection, we'll see a very thoughtful mix of all different types of art really presented in in thematic ways.

But we do have strengths.

Our works on paper collection is a real strength for us.

Drawings has been a commitment since the early 70s for us to collect drawings, and because of that we have deep holdings not only by American artists, but also by European artists, contemporary craft and craft objects.

That's another area of strength for us.

And again, we have deep holdings in both American and European and then some artists across the globe too.

So I think it's going to be when people come through our doors, they'll see perhaps some familiar works, but then they'll also get a chance to see some works that are that are brand new to the collection.

What you mentioned a moment ago, Doctor the the the museum's educational mission.

Any museum worth its salt is more than simply paintings, works on paper, hanging on a gallery wall.

It is a living, breathing institution.

So follow up on that if you would.

Sure.

You know, one of the things that I am most proud about this building is this is a building that was built for art, but it's also a building built for people we are designed to accommodate.

Young and older visitors, we are designed to accommodate those art experiences that we want people to have with both the visual and performing arts.

And so I talked about our galleries, but really, when we open our doors, people will also get the opportunity to experience a full range of programs.

That we're offering through our through our art school, through our community engagement programs, and then through the children's theater and it it's really those kinds of experiences where you get a chance to see your performance or you get a chance to make art or hear from an artist or understand the intersection of dance and art.

That can not only deepen somebody's understanding of art, but introduce them to new art forms that perhaps they didn't know about previously.

And that's really what we're here to do.

We're here to inspire, we're here to expand horizons and we're here to present the world of art to to everybody.

I love the fact that we're free and.

This is really one of those museums that's as committed to art as we are to our community.

What do we?

A Museum of facility and institution of this sort is in fact an economic development asset, is it not?

Do we fail to appreciate its value, I think, increasingly across the country.

And in our community, we are better understanding the economic impact of the cultural community and of an Art Museum.

And I think that we are also better understanding how arts and culture contributes to one's quality of life.

That is something that we have learned in a very profound way over the last, I would say 3 1/2 years of us being closed.

When we certainly were under construction, we were a huge economic driver in this community.

We were one of the largest construction projects.

I remember a time right in the middle of the pandemic when there was such concern about jobs and job security, and we were employing and had over 200 construction workers on our job site every day building this museum.

And and even as it stands right now and as we're poised for our opening, there are hundreds of people who are employed full time and part time at the museum and then hundreds beyond that who support us in a variety of ways, whether it's as a a contractor or a subcontractor or or a supplier.

And and then you think of quality of life and this is something that.

We've talked about quite a bit, certainly as we've moved beyond the the depths of the pandemic, that we need arts and we need cultural experiences to bring a community together.

And it's these kinds of experiences in places like museums where, as I had mentioned before, people can expand their horizons, learn multiple perspectives, meet new people.

Yeah, and come together in a very sometimes intellectual but sometimes very celebratory way to understand a new art form or or understand and and get to know what a new artist a lot of times when we hear people talk about coming to a museum.

They'll say that they like to visit museums when they're on vacation or they like to visit museums when they're traveling or when they have visitors and from out of town.

And you know, it's those kinds of comments that remind us that museums are places that can extend somebody's visit to a community or can be the driver of somebody's visit to a community.

And we certainly hope that when we open and we start to.

Roll out our calendar or programming.

We will be a place that draws not only from Central Arkansas and throughout the state, but beyond and and showcases what Little Rock has to offer for those who are visiting from out of town.

I'd be remiss if I didn't know that the the presence of another significant arts institution in Northwest Arkansas.

Of course.

Crystal Bridges, I assume you you believe firmly that there's room for both if there's not.

An unhealthy rivalry between the two, Absolutely.

There's there's room for both.

There's room for all of us.

You know, the truth is when when you work in a museum, you just want people to enjoy coming to a museum.

You want people to make museums a part of their lives.

And so whether somebody is doing that in Northwest Arkansas or they're doing that in in Memphis.

We just want people to enjoy all that the arts and museums can bring to somebody's life.

And when we think about our partnership with, we'll call her our sister museum.

And up in Northwest Arkansas with Crystal Bridges, it's really an opportunity to get more people excited about museums and art and also to raise the profile of the cultural happenings in the state.

Dr. Ramirez, we thank you very much for your time.

Congratulations on the new Museum of Fine Arts.

Best wishes.

Thanks for joining us and come back.

We'll come back soon.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

We'll be back in just a moment on healthcare, now a specialized kind of care.

State Representative Aaron Pilkington of Knoxville is a resolute opponent of abortion, but his concerns and his legislative agenda are not limited to the prenatal.

For example, he is the principal driver of legislation to address Arkansas's dismal standing in maternal mortality, a ranking that is among the worst, if not the worst, in the nation.

The Medicaid program, the Arkansas Medicaid program, provides women only 60 days of postpartum care, which Mr. Pilkington regards as about 10 months too short.

Mr. Pilkington joins us now, Sir.

Thanks very much for coming in.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

At this particular juncture, the your extension, your mandatory extension of Medicaid postpartum care does not appear to be on terribly solid political ground.

No, I would agree it's an expensive program.

Anytime you talk about Medicaid expansion, we've we have a long history of it being kind of a fraud issue.

However, like you mentioned in your intro.

We have the worst mortality rates when it comes to comes to this issue in the country.

Now granted we have improved over the last few years with some of the work that we've done but it but it needs to get better and one of the signature policy that we could do to make that better would be to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a year.

Now, granted, you have the works program, you have traditional Medicaid as well, but there's still women who are falling through the gaps.

And those women are put in a precarious situation in which they do not have access to care and we're leaving them out there to languish.

And then in, in a best case scenario, they show up at the ER, get care, our providers don't get paid for or they don't see care at all.

And we have terrible outcomes like you mentioned in your intro where.

You mentioned the expense of it, but a lot of people wouldn't, including yourself I would assume would what are you would say that the expense is fully justified that it is in fact an investment rather than a liability.

I would agree.

I think it is an investment into our, into our state.

I mean obviously save money in the long run.

Sure.

Exactly.

I mean the reality is when you have these terrible outcomes, they're expensive.

You know, it's kind of like how you don't you be a penny wise # foolish, but that's kind of what we're being right now is we want to save money on this end, but we're paying it on the long end.

Now, granted, we've done other things to try to minimize the cost of Medicaid, especially around this because about 70% of all babies born in Arkansas are born on Medicaid.

It's massive.

We recently passed legislation surrounding Lark Long Act of Reversible contraceptives.

Which is following Colorado did I think they saved around $50 million through that program.

We're hoping to save, you know similar with that, obviously we've invested money into a breast milk bank here in Arkansas establishing the first one ever.

That was legislation I ran last session to kind of help help that because obviously health outcomes for women who breastfeed versus those who don't are significantly better.

We've been trying to encourage that in rural Arkansas as well.

And then of course to this great work that U AM S has done and other health systems to encourage the use of contraceptives and things like that for women who are choosing not to not to have have children at this time but for women who do or or women who become pregnant.

And now with the Dob's decision, there's you know, they they can't terminate that pregnancy.

We need to make sure that we provide care for them.

You know, I believe that you know we should take care of children from womb to tomb and I think it's it's.

On us now as being the most pro-life state in the nation to put our money where our mouth is and invest in what you said is is early prevention to make sure that we don't have these terrible outcomes.

You did or it would appear that you did not get a great deal of encouragement in the Medicaid expansion from the the state medical well, at least from the bureaucracy anyway.

Yeah, I think, I think we have a new administration, we have new leadership over at DHS.

We've we talked extensively about this.

They've you know they've been great showing.

Look we have Arkansas works covers this much traditional Medicaid comes through this.

We've got this small gap and I think what they're trying to do is wrap their wrap their heads around the entire Medicaid system in Arkansas and find ways that we can improve moving forward.

And I and I I can appreciate that point of view.

I want to do something something now, but it looks like it's not going to happen.

But I do think in the future this is an area in which they say they are laser focused in because they want to make sure that Arkansas isn't seen as the last state.

You know, I think one of the things the governor said is she, it's Arkansas 1st and she wants to make Arkansas 1st.

And I say I love that.

Let's make Arkansas the first, number one best state in the nation, have a baby.

Let's go from last to 1st.

We are some distance from that.

Well, I I say I always shoot for the moon and you land up on the stars.

I mean I think anything we can do to improve this outcome the better.

And obviously with the Dobbs decision, we're expecting more births here in Arkansas than we ever had before around 3000.

So we've got to get we've got to get our our house in order so that we can accommodate these new birds and make sure that though these women who have these children are taken care of.

But you know something else that's really important with this is also making sure.

That we're having discussions with stakeholders and and people in the healthcare arena about making sure that we get our other areas that affect maternal health.

You know one of the main reasons related to these deaths is, is cardiovascular issues, it's hypertension, it's hemorrhage, all those things we need to focus on before women get pregnant and that's a discussion we're not really seeing a lot.

We want to focus on the nine months in which they're pregnant and then after.

But some of it is having this discussions.

We have a really, really unhealthy state.

And if women are thinking about getting pregnant we need to have discussions with them early on saying you then you need to make sure your health is in tip top shape because you can't just start day one.

You you find out you're pregnant and then try to reverse 10 years of bad health and bad living.

You had kind of got a reputation as Mr. Maternity anyway the in the in the volume of legislation that you have introduced and and are sponsored over the years including this session involving pre and post Natal.

Care, maternal care particularly you had better luck this session with some other bills that you had.

Yes, I I would say we had the depression screening for for postpartum women was passed.

We have the the depression screens for pregnant women as well.

Those are two areas in which you know dealing with mental health is is vastly important to make sure that those women are getting cared for newborn screenings which is another issue that's really close to my heart to make sure that we're screening these newborns so that.

We can have early prevention, which once again it's it's trying to get in early when the costs are lower than waiting for these things to get worse than cost us more.

So I would say I've I've been successful in those realms.

There's a few areas I wish we would have been able to do.

I wish my maternity leave bill would have been able to get passed.

Unfortunately it didn't but I'm glad to see in the Arkansas Learns bill, there is a provision for 12 weeks for paid maternity leave if school districts decide to opt into that program.

You know, I think that's a really important thing as we go forward is how do we make it to where if you're a woman here in Arkansas that you have the time after birth to to heal, to bond with your baby and to get on a right solid health footing before, before we go, take it back to the workplace as we set up top at the interview.

You are among that overwhelming majority of the General Assembly that is adamantly proabortion as recently as in the closing days of this abortion.

You said pro abortion.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, no anti abortion please.

I'm sorry.

And and in the closing days of the session there was legislation offered that would that failed in committee that would have a permitted abortions for mine of the youngest children and in terms of a rape or incest abortion it failed on a boy's phone.

Do you see in the future any softening of of anti abortion center.

No I don't think so.

I I think the the General Assembly is is pretty staunch and their their views on this.

I think in reality when we when we hear these horrible stories a lot of us are saying what can we do to prevent that pregnancy as opposed to terminating it after the fact and that was one of the reasons why you know you I did the.

Pushed last session to get pharmacists to be able to prescribe birth control over the counter was this idea that by giving more access to contraceptives we can prevent those unwanted pregnancies and these extremely rare cases of such as such as rape and incest.

They're really heart wrenching and they're and your heart goes out to the victims of that.

But for us and for our view is that is a life and to take a life is is is never worth it.

And so unfortunately that's that's where we're at.

I I tell everyone all the time it's like I'd much rather us execute the ****** than execute the the the fetus and so but unfortunately that's just that's where we're at and so I don't see any softening there.

No there well you said the moment we used the Frey shoot for the moon with this.

There's a there's an astrophysical aspect to your agenda as well.

Yes.

And you got that through.

I did, yes.

The feasibility for a spaceport here in Arkansas, I would say it's not Spacey.

I know.

It's really, I mean, well and it's, it's funny.

It raised a lot of eyebrows when I when I ran it.

But what's really funny is former Governor ASA Hutchinson had a task force.

This was a recommendation.

And I remember when they're that task force recommended I thought this is super weird but then I looked into it and got really excited.

I thought you know it really does make sense where Arkansas is located with the new kind of ways we do things.

But also too I mean the amount of aerospace companies we have here in Arkansas we have 56.

I mean that's I don't think people ever think aerospace in Arkansas but the reality is, is we're.

We're there were a logistical headquarters of the United States in a lot of ways, Walmart and JB Hunt.

So it really makes sense for us to look at this feasibility.

Say we do it.

I would love the idea to one day be able to see rockets shoot off from Arkansas.

Well, there was a fellow and I think named Dell in Texas and they thought he was nuts too.

I would agree.

What are we going to see in the near term on this?

What on the on the spaceport thing, You know, I think what we're going to see obviously is a feasibility study, but there's a lot of money floating around federally to to fund these programs.

Once they get up and going, I think what we're going to see is a report come back, say it's positive.

That we should proceed with it and hear the economic benefits and then I think it basically becomes selling that to the General Assembly next go around saying we should fund this program, we should fund a portion of this program to get this up and going.

You know the great thing is a lot of these are having it's publicprivate partnerships to create these.

And so I think we'll look at something like that and and I think you've got a lot of and for some of the people I know who have invested time and effort and it's their companies that are looking at Arkansas after this bill is passed.

Who have not before saying calling them up saying hey we understand spaceport Arkansas could be a real thing we want to get on the ground floor because in other places you know Virgin Galactic or or SpaceX already kind of has the monopoly on those ports and they want ports of their own.

So to to to hub out of you got think kind of like an airport that's what I explained and you know we have seaports we have airports and we're just getting spaceports and so you know I want to be kind of the for lack of a better word like.

The land is the Delta hub.

I want Arkansas to be the hub for, for a new aerospace company.

And that's that's my hope.

Why not?

Why not?

Mr. Pilkington, thanks very much for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

Appreciate it.

You bet.

And as always, we thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time.

Support for Arkansas week provided by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

The Arkansas Times and KUARFM 89.