LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — New art is coming to downtown Little Rock as the area bounces back from the pandemic.
What used to be an empty alley, will soon be a "pocket park" on Main Street in downtown Little Rock.
"It's not big enough to be called a full-blown park, but it's a pocket," Gabe Holmstrom said.
Gabe Holmstrom with the Downtown Little Rock Partnership came up with the plan for this "pocket park" over the past year. He wants to attract people downtown again as the pandemic slows.
"All of this is going to have new artificial grass in it. In the evening time, we have lights we strung up across the two buildings," he said. "We’re going to put some movies out here, live music out here.”
Ten artists from Arkansas are painting murals to bring life to the space.
"What we've really found is people enjoy art and they want to go to places where there's new art up," Holmstrom said.
Casey Siegel is one of the artists selected. Her mural is inspired by seeing people gather again.
"And bringing people together to break bread," she said. "It’ll be a wonderful place for the local people to come and have lunches and just spend time together.”
Holmstrom said the streets of downtown are starting to see people again.
"The restaurants are filling up. People are walking up and down and coming back to work in the office buildings," he said.
A new sculpture is also coming to the corner of Capitol and Main, which will be constructed in the coming weeks.
"It's by local sculptor Hunter Brown. So, it's going to be 20 feet in the air," Holmstrom said.
By adding new art to look at, Holmstrom's goal is to give a new feel to downtown as people start coming back.
"They're ready to restart their lives and we want this to be a place where they can come do that," he said.
The pocket park on Main Street will officially open May 14.