The Downtown Little Rock Partnership, a nonprofit organization, invests in the success of downtown Little Rock through vibrant events, transformative public art projects and special committees dedicated to the city’s enhancement.
“The organization was created to try to bring energy and people and businesses back downtown to invest in the city, invest in the urban core of the city and make it a place where people want to come,” says Kyle Leyenberger, DLRP’s communications director.
DLRP was founded in 1984 and originated from Little Rock Unlimited Progress, an organization that created the Metro Center Mall in 1978.
“In the 70s, they launched a project to create the Metro Center Mall, which was a pedestrian mall on several blocks of Main Street, right there at Capitol and Main. That project ultimately was not a success, and it was removed eventually. Out of Little Rock Unlimited Progress, the Downtown Partnership was created and the Metro Center Business Improvement District, which we help manage at this point."
The DLRP hosts various events to display the city’s abundant beauty, such as the Downtown Food Truck Festival, the dog parade Barkus on Main, the East Village Street Food Jam and MuralFest.
Kyle says the Main Street Revitalization Task Force, a DLRP committee devoted to making Main Street thrive, conceptualized the Downtown Food Truck Festival in 2011.
“When the food truck festival was first envisioned, Main Street was vacant storefronts and empty buildings. They thought, ‘What can we do to get people downtown and show them what it would be like if Main Street had a bunch of restaurants and things to do on it?’ And so that's how the food truck festival was born.”
The Downtown Food Truck Festival, which will take place Sept. 21, attracts tens of thousands to the city each year, and 60 to 80 food trucks participate.
DLRP intends to revitalize Capitol Avenue after the success of Main Street and has begun holding the annual food truck festival on Capitol Avenue since last year.
“We have seen that success on Main Street, and we're now trying to shift the focus and show off Capitol because that’s a very important street,” Kyle says. “It leads up to the Capitol. It's right in the heart of our downtown.”
He says another way the DLRP works on improving downtown Little Rock is through public art projects.
“We will work with business owners. If they’re looking to put a mural on their building, we can help them find an artist, or if they have an artist they want, and our public spaces committee approves it, we can pay for half of that mural,” says Kyle. “We also work on other projects where a need has been identified. We did MuralFest last year in an alleyway that was covered in graffiti, and we added eight large-scale murals over the course of a couple of weeks to that alley and made an outdoor public art gallery and just transformed that space very quickly.”
DLRP also spearheaded the Downtown Little Rock Master Plan, a 200-page document that outlines steps for the city’s growth and development, such as strengthening the city’s relationship with the Arkansas River or connecting cultural amenities.
“We advocate at the city and the state level for policies that will benefit the downtown,” Kyle says. “We strongly urged the city that we needed to do a downtown master plan. We hadn't ever done a comprehensive one for Little Rock, and so we were able to help get that off the ground and get it going.”
Kyle says DLRP is working to improve bike and pedestrian accessibility under the master plan by narrowing wide streets to create safer routes to downtown amenities like the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Historic Arkansas Museum and Central High School.
“We have all these cool things, but they’re disconnected right now,” Kyle says. “One of the things that we're trying to do is bring those more together and make sure there's a clear, more connected path for people to go and visit these things.”
DLRP also manages the Ambassador’s Program, a community service initiative started in 2017.
Ambassadors wearing bright blue or green uniforms can be found on the streets of downtown Little Rock, patrolling the River Market, SoMa and the Main Street Creative Corridor. They help keep the city cleaner through safety patrol and litter removal.
“They're out there picking up trash or cleaning up graffiti,” Kyle says. “They say hi to people, and ... if you need an escort, they can take you from your car to your work or from your work to your car.”
The Ambassador’s Program removed 218,221 pieces of trash in its first year.
“That’s making a real impact as well, and that's another part of our work,” says Kyle.
He advises the easiest way to get involved with DLRP is to volunteer at events or join the Public Spaces Committee, which is an opportunity to weigh in on public art showcased downtown.
Downtown businesses also can join the DLRP by signing up for a membership. For more information on upcoming events or how to become a member, visit downtownlr.com.
“We advocate at the city and the state level for policies that will benefit the downtown."
“We strongly urged the city that we needed to do a downtown master plan."