Event attendees are sure to enjoy the Little Rock experience, says Adam Berrios, vice president of sales and services for the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). “Our city mixes classic Southern hospitality with just the right amount of hipness. Our walkable downtown is the starting point. Attendees can spill out of meetings and discover plenty of fun things to see and do, including cultural landmarks, like the Clinton Presidential Library and the Old State House Museum,” he says. “There is abundant nightlife, vibrant arts, a dynamic dining scene, and more. It is no wonder Little Rock is one of the more celebrated mid-sized cities in the United States.”
The 220,000-square-foot Statehouse Convention Center is progressing through a phased renovation, Berrios says, with a planned completion in summer 2025. “More than half of the projects have been implemented, including two large LED walls, new soundproofing, programable LED accent lighting, improved Wi-Fi, and more,” he explains.
The center, which has a ballroom with seating for 2,064 classroom style, is attached to the 418-room Little Rock Marriott, which has an additional 44,747 square feet of meeting space.
The LEED Gold-certified Robinson Center has nearly 25,000 square feet of meeting space, plus a 2,222-seat performance hall, 500-person-capacity ballroom, and 5,500-square-foot terrace overlooking the Arkansas River. A 288-room DoubleTree by Hilton is connected to the center and has an additional 15,000 square feet of event and meeting space. The two facilities share a 500-space parking garage.
The recently reimagined Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts offers permanent and traveling exhibits with a variety of event spaces, including a 330-seat performance hall, 153-seat lecture hall, a glass-walled multipurpose space with a capacity of 220 for receptions, an atrium, an event lawn, and the Cultural Living Room, which can host 300 for receptions.
Other offsite event facilities include the Jack Stephens Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, with event space for 25 to 300 people; Next Level Events, located in a historic train station, with space to host 750 event guests; and the Clinton Presidential Center, an educational and cultural venue with more than 10,000 square feet of event space. The center is part of the 33-acre Riverfront Park, with a pedestrian bridge connecting to the 15-mile Arkansas River Trail flowing on both riverbanks.
Downtown’s River Market Entertainment District includes an amphitheater, two open-air pavilions, and the adjacent Museum of Discovery, which can accommodate 600 guests, with a variety of event configurations.
Little Rock has approximately 7,200 guest rooms, with 2,000 in the downtown Convention District. Larger hotels with event space include the 288-room DoubleTree by Hilton, with 12,736 square feet of function space; 264-room Four Points by Sheraton, with 13,000 square feet of event space; 201-room Holiday Inn Conference Center, Little Rock Airport, with 20,000 square feet of meeting space; and West Little Rock’s Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center, with 251 guest rooms and 12,902 square feet of meeting space.
