In March 2022 the NWA Mall put a question to its social media: would local artists want to show work in a storefront it would give them for free? The ones who said yes found the room came with no staff, so they became the staff. Four years on, that is still how The Art Gallery at NWA Mall runs. Every member lives in Washington or Benton County, works at least eight hours a month on the floor, pays $30 or $60 a month in dues, and keeps every dollar when a piece sells; the board is drawn from the same people. One wall turns over each month to a local school's students, and Ramay Jr. High and Haas Hall have both hung work there. The free classes are taught by the members too, with the nonprofit covering supplies and sign-up on Eventbrite. One founding board member's blog remembers the unit as the mall's old Banana Republic. What you get for the trip is the people: the person minding the room made some of what is on the walls, and the class costs nothing and is taught by someone who makes things. The catch is the hours, four afternoons a week, Thursday through Sunday, one to five.