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Arts Organization Gets Land Near Marshals Museum Site in Fort Smith

2 min read

The Community School of the Arts, a nonprofit arts education group in Fort Smith, announced Thursday that a tract of land had been donated to the organization.

The organization, which began operations in September, hopes to use the land to build an arts facility that would include a children’s theater, music hall, space for education and an art gallery, as well as a theater for concerts and large-scale productions.

“It’s a major undertaking, to say the least,” Rosilee Russell, executive director, told Arkansas Business.

The 11-acre tract was donated by the Robbie Westphal family. The land sits along Riverfront Drive in downtown Fort Smith and is located near the future site of the U.S. Marshals Museum, which is scheduled to open in 2019.

“The CSA Board is excited to be located in such close proximity to the United States Marshals Museum on Fort Smith’s riverfront corridor. Together, these two organizations will be a catalyst for economic development in the region,” Philip H. Merry Jr., chair of the CSA board, said in a news release. “This donation is a vote of confidence and a gift to our youth. May we do well with this gift for the youth and our city and make the Robbie Westphal family very proud.”

Russell did not have a formal projected cost for the facility, noting that the organization has been focusing on obtaining the land for the project.

The organization has been working out of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church at 2701 Old Greenwood Road in Fort Smith.

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