Newsroom

Press releases and news from Art Bridges and our partners.

October 23, 2024

Art Bridges Foundation Partners with Housatonic Museum of Art to Expand Community College Art Museum Programming

Art Bridges Foundation is proud to announce its new partnership with the Housatonic Museum of Art (HMA) at Connecticut State Community College Housatonic in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, the HMA will present “Storytelling through the Art of Julie Buffalohead,” a free community program on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.

This event is the result of an Art Bridges Learning & Engagement project that is centered around Resurrection by Julie Buffalohead, a celebrated Indigenous artist and member of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma. A hands-on artmaking workshop and a discussion will explore the themes found in Buffalohead’s work, which is on loan from the Art Bridges Collection and currently on view in the Beacon Hall Event Center.

October 21, 2024

Art Bridges Foundation Brings The Last Supper to Boise Art Museum

Art Bridges Foundation is excited to announce the opening of Julie Green: The Last Supper at the Boise Art Museum on November 30, 2024. The exhibition will feature approximately 1,000 plates that depict the final meals requested by persons on death row in the United States — making it the largest showing of Green's artwork.


The Last Supper is a recent addition to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art collection, and the exhibition at the Boise Art Museum will be an immersive experience for visitors within the three central gallery spaces. This is the first stop on a nationwide tour made possible with the support of Art Bridges and its Partner Loan Network initiative.

September 9, 2024

Art Bridges Launches Next Phase of Cincinnati Art Museum Cohort

Art Bridges Foundation is excited to launch the next chapter of the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) cohort, marking the debut of three original exhibitions across university museums. After a period of collaborative research and development, these exhibitions will showcase an exciting blend of artworks from CAM’s permanent collection alongside pieces from the hosting museums.

The first exhibition, Portraying Identity, opened at the Denison Museum at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, on August 29, 2024, and will remain on view through November. Following this, the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio University will launch Pairings: CAM Paintings & KMA Prints on January 17, 2025, while the Art Museum of West Virginia University will present Radiant Pages: The Art of the Book beginning January 24, 2025.

July 24, 2024

Art Bridges Announces Open Call for New Traveling Exhibition

Art Bridges Foundation is excited to announce an open call for venues interested in Crafting Sanctuaries: Black Spaces of the Great Depression South, a new traveling exhibition that explores how Black Southerners transformed private dwellings and public gathering places into havens of expression and refuge during the Great Depression.

Crafting Sanctuaries will be available beginning in Spring 2025 for a loan duration period of six months at each borrowing institution. The exhibition is open to a wide variety of arts and cultural organizations in the United States — providing a unique opportunity for libraries, schools, community centers, and other nontraditional spaces to share these significant works with their local community.

March 28, 2024

Art Bridges Foundation Announces Partner Loan Network

Art Bridges Foundation is pleased to announce its Partner Loan Network, a program dedicated to fostering long-term collection- sharing partnerships among museums of all sizes and locations throughout the United States.


Formerly known as the collection loan partnership, the Partner Loan Network was born out of a recognition that a vast portion of American art remains tucked away in museum vaults, inaccessible to the public due to financial and logistical constraints.

Order/Reorder: Experiments in Collections at the Hudson River Museum of Art

March 4, 2024 (WHYY PBS)

The Michener Museum offers free admission days, extended hours

The Michener Museum is now free of charge on the second Sunday of every month.


The free second Sunday and evening hours on first Thursday are possible due to a $400,000 grant from the Art Bridges Foundation, whose Access for All program is funding 64 museums across the country to help rebuild audiences lost from the pandemic shutdown four years ago.

Michener Museum free second Sunday

January 23, 2024 (Broadway World)

The Mississippi Museum of Art to Offer Free Admission to Exhibitions to Boost Access and Community Engagement

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) will be offering free admission to exhibitions on the first Saturday of every month through the end 2026. Access for All: Free First Saturdays is made possible through the Art Bridges Foundation's Access for All program, a transformative three-year funding initiative that aims to increase access to museums across America and foster engagement with local audiences.

Mississippi Museum of Art exterior

January 20, 2024 (There San Diego)

San Diego Museum of Art Offering Free Admission

The San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) is offering free general admission to all on the second Thursday of each month and extending free general admission daily to active and veteran military service members with a valid military ID, plus one guest, and all students with student ID.


These admission updates are a result of the Museum being awarded an Access for All grant funded by the Art Bridges Foundation, a national arts nonprofit founded by philanthropist Alice Walton.

San Diego Museum of Art exterior

January 12, 2024 (Street Insider)

Robert Colescott's Monumental "Miss Liberty" is on Public Display for the First Time

Artist Robert Colescott's monumental painting "Miss Liberty" is on public display for the first time since being purchased by a private collector shortly after it was painted in 1980. Decades later, the painting is now the centerpiece of Peoria Riverfront Museum's newest exhibition, "FRESH: New Directions in Contemporary Art," which features a collection of newly purchased artworks from Art Bridges, the foundation started by Walmart heiress Alice Walton in 2017.

Peoria Riverfront Museum New Directions in Contemporary Art Robert Colescott

January 11, 2024 (Syracuse University News)

Art Bridges Grant to Support Gordon Parks Exhibition at Syracuse University Art Museum Next Fall

Syracuse University Art Museum has received a grant from the Art Bridges Foundation to support the exhibition and related programming for “Homeward to the Prairie I Come: Gordon Parks Photographs,“ on loan from the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University. The exhibition of over 75 original photographs will be on view at the museum from Aug. 22 to Dec. 17, 2024.

Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks Pool Hall

January 10, 2024 (Gothamist)

Why the Whitney Museum went from 'Pay-What-You-Wish' to 'Free' on Friday Nights

The Whitney Museum will launch its new program of free admission from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday nights this week, along with a new program offering free admission on the second Sunday of each month.

Making the “free” component crystal clear was part of the museum’s effort to attract a new audience, Rothkopf said, adding that the audience in the “pay-what-you-wish” hours has been younger, less affluent and more diverse.


The expanded free admission is made possible by three-year gifts from several Whitney trustees, as well as the Art Bridges Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Walmart heir Alice Walton, which aims to expand access to American art.

Whitney Museum exterior

January 10, 2024 (News On 6)

OKC Museum of Art has Free Admission Days Due to Access for All Grant

The Oklahoma City Museum Of Art is starting monthly free admission days starting January 14. The Art Bridges Foundation's Access for All program provided the free admission days, which will be the second Sunday of each month for the next three years.


"Access for All will allow us to share the wonderful things happening at the Museum with many more people,” said Bryon Chambers, the Museum’s head of education.

Oklahoma City Art Museum exterior

January 9, 2024 (I Love NY)

The Olana Partnership Launches First Free Third Thursday

The Olana Partnership will hold its first Olana Third Thursdays on January 18 from 11:00am to 5:00pm at Olana State Historic Site. Olana Third Thursdays are monthly days of free tours of the historic landscape and house and programs for all ages.


Generous support for Olana Third Thursdays is provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.

Olana Mansion, Olana State Historic Site

January 8, 2024 (Local3 News)

Hunter Museum offering free admission for EBT cardholders

After receiving a generous grant from the Art Bridges Foundation, Chattanooga’s Hunter Museum is offering free admission to some visitors to allow more people to have access to art.


The “Access for All” initiative gives EBT cardholders free admission to the museum for the next three years.

Gallery at the Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, Tennessee

January 4, 2024 (Mass Live)

Springfield Museums are free on first Wednesdays

When Michelle Murphy, vice president of development and marketing at the Springfield Museums, walked the grounds of the museums Wednesday, she said she observed a wide range of age groups reflected in the visitors.


Thanks to a substantial grant from the Art Bridges Foundation, the Springfield Museums are providing free admission on the first Wednesday of every month through the end of 2026.


“The gift of this grant removes the barrier for people who may want to join, but can’t because of expense,” Murphy said.

Springfield Museums visitors

December 30, 2023 (Huntingdon Daily News)

Arts Access Lifts Communities

The pandemic caused such a societal upheaval that its reverberations continue to be felt. Just one example is the fact that museum admissions nationwide remain significantly below pre-pandemic levels.


Museums like the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg report only 70 percent of the admissions they experienced before Covid.

So for The Westmoreland to be included among 64 museums, selected from across 36 states and Puerto Rico, to receive a six-figure programming grant from the Art Bridges Foundation is a rather big deal – not only for the Westmoreland but for the community it serves.


Westmoreland Museum of American Art exterior

December 29, 2023 (Glass Tire)

Dallas Museum of Art to Launch “FREE First Sundays” in 2024

Earlier this month the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) announced the launch of Access for All, a two-year commitment (from 2024 to 2026) to offer free admission to ticketed exhibitions on the first Sunday of each month.


This initiative is funded by the Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All initiative, a three-year funding program that invests $40 million in 64 museums across the U.S.

Abraham Angel Installation

December 15, 2023

Art Bridges Appoints Anne Kraybill as Chief Executive Officer

We are pleased to announce Anne Kraybill as Chief Executive Officer of Art Bridges! With a growing network of over 230 partner museums, Kraybill will lead the foundation as it continues increasing access to American art across the country.


Kraybill is an accomplished leader in the museum field known for her expertise in program development, community engagement, fundraising, strategic planning, and research. She formerly served as the Director/CEO of the Wichita Art Museum and The Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, among others.


At both museums, Kraybill partnered with Art Bridges to expand community access to a diverse range of artworks and public programs.

Anne Kraybill, Art Bridges CEO

NOVEMBER 20, 2023 (DELAWARE TODAY)

Art Bridges Supports the Delaware Art Museum in a Big Way

A grant from Art Bridges allows the Delaware museum to offer free admission to select events throughout the year.


“The support is really significant and will lead to robust programming and a series of free nights,” says Amelia Wiggins, DelArt’s director of advancement and external affairs.

delaware art museum exterior wilmington delaware

NOVEMBER 9, 2023 (PEORIA JOURNAL STAR)

Peoria Riverfront Museum starting Access For All Days

The Peoria Riverfront Museum will start waiving admission charges every second Sunday of the month beginning Nov. 12.

The program, Access for All Days, is funded by a grant from the Art Bridges Foundation.

Peoria Riverfront Museum exterior entrance - Peoria Illinois

October 31, 2023 (WQAD)

Free Second Saturdays coming to Figge Art Museum

Families looking for some free fun in the Quad Cities will have another option coming soon.


Beginning Saturday, Dec. 9, the Figge Art Museum will offer free admission on the second Saturday of each month. The new program is funded by a $400,000 grant from the Art Bridges Foundation.

Figge Art Museum - Davenport, Iowa

October 30, 2023 (Erie Times News)

'Access for All' funds allow Erie Art Museum to offer free admission times

The Erie Art Museum's collection contains more than 8,000 objects, including ceramics, paintings, sculpture and photography. Visitors will be able to see it for free twice a month beginning in January.


The downtown museum received $80,000 as part of the Art Bridges Foundation's "Access for All," an initiative that provided $40 million total to 64 museums nationwide, according to Erie Art Museum officials.

Erie Art Museum exterior

October 17, 2023 (Penn State News)

Art Bridges gives Palmer Museum largest award in the museum’s history

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State received an award from Art Bridges Foundation through its new Access for All initiative. The funding will help defray the expense of offering extended evening hours one night a week when the new Palmer Museum of Art opens in late spring 2024.


“For the first time in the museum’s history, we will add Thursday evenings to our regular museum hours thanks to the generous support from Art Bridges,” said Palmer Museum Director Erin M. Coe.

Palmer Museum of Art exterior

October 16, 2023 (Pen Bay Pilot)

Farnsworth Art Museum receives award to open doors for free entrance on First Fridays

The Farnsworth Art Museum is one of 64 museums nationwide to receive an Access for All award from Art Bridges Foundation. The award will be used to expand free admission First Fridays at the museum. Starting in January, the museum will offer free admission and special programming in winter months in addition to its popular summer schedule. The Access for All award funds special programming designed to reach new audiences for the next three years.

Farnsworth Art Museum exterior

October 15, 2023 (darienite)

Fairfield University Art Museum Will Stay Open Later on Thursdays

The Fairfield University Art Museum will extend its hours to 8 p.m. on Thursdays for the next three years, starting on Nov. 2, thanks to an Access for All award from Art Bridges Foundation, the university announced.


“Our diverse audiences have long asked for extended hours, particularly to accommodate those who work during the day,” said Carey Mack Weber, executive director of the museum. We hope that this initiative will bring new visitors and new excitement, as well as expanded partnerships.”

Fairfield University Art Museum gallery

October 14, 2023 (YourErie)

Erie Art Museum to offer free admission days courtesy of national arts nonprofit funding

The Erie Art Museum will soon offer free admission on certain days thanks to an Access for All award from Art Bridges Foundation. Museums participating in the Access for All initiative, including the Erie Art Museum, span 36 states and Puerto Rico.


The Erie Art Museum announced it will use the funding to allow free admission on the first Thursday of each month from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., and on the third Saturday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., beginning Jan. 1, 2024.

Erie Art Museum in Erie Pennsylvania

October 13, 2023 (MassLive)

Springfield Museums Announce Free First Wednesdays beginning in January

The Springfield Museums have been awarded an extraordinary three-year award from Art Bridges Foundation as part of a new “Access for All” initiative that is meant to help increase access to museums across the country. Thanks to this funding, the museums will introduce “Free First Wednesdays" beginning Jan. 2024.

Springfield Museums

October 13, 2023 (NIMB)

Nat’l survey: Arts & culture industry pumps $180M into Puerto Rico’s economy

The Art Bridges Foundation, the national arts nonprofit founded by philanthropist Alice Walton, announced the launch of a new initiative, “Access for All,” providing $40 million to 64 U.S. museums, including the Puerto Rico Museum of Art.


The goal of the funding is to “increase access to museums across the country and foster engagement with local communities by covering the costs of free admission days and expanded free hours as well as programming, outreach and community partnerships that together, will eliminate many common barriers to access.”

Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico

October 12, 2023 (KURL8)

Yellowstone Art Museum Announces Free Admission for Three Years Thanks to Funding from Nationwide ‘Access for All’ Initiative

Admission to the Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM) will be free to all visitors beginning on Friday, October 13, 2023. YAM received funding from Art Bridges Foundation’s “Access for All Initiative” and is using the funds to eliminate the cost of museum admission.

Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings Montana

October 12, 2023 (Billings Gazette)

YAM admission will be free for next three years

If you went to the Yellowstone Art Museum on Thursday, you had to pay anywhere from $6 to $15 to get in. But if you go on Friday, don’t even bother getting your wallet out. Starting on Oct. 13 and going for at least the next three years, admission at the YAM be free. No strings attached.

Art Bridges is donating a $240,000 grant to the YAM so they can waive their admission fee for three years.

Gary Bates' sculpture Will-He-Drill turns in front of the Yellowstone Art Museum

October 11, 2023

Art Bridges Foundation Launches Initiative to Reduce Barriers to Museum Visits

Art Bridges Foundation, the national arts nonprofit founded by philanthropist Alice Walton, announced today the launch of “Access for All,” providing $40 million in funding to 64 museums nationwide. The initiative aims to increase access to museums across the country and foster engagement with local communities.

Art Bridges Access for All logo

September 18, 2023 (WCBU)

Peoria Riverfront Museum exhibition showcases folk art from across the country

Showcasing quilts, paintings and hand carved sculptures, the FOLK exhibition at the Peoria Riverfront Museum represents a little bit of American History.


The items are on loan from the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, which features some of the best known works from folk artists across the country. The loan will last two years and the pieces are being displayed with works from local folk artists.

Zac Zetterberg and Bill Conger at Peoria Riverfront Museum

September 4, 2023 (Washington City Paper)

SAAM’s Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea Tells the Untold Stories that Built the U.S.

While Washington State may seem removed from Washington, D.C., Bellingham was not an arbitrary selection. Many Wests is the latest result of the Art Bridges Foundation, a national project based in Arkansas that partners with and financially supports museums, allowing their various partners to lend and borrow each other’s exhibits.


Art Bridges’ funding allowed SAAM to acquire works from Whatcom as well as the Boise Art Museum in Idaho, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Oregon, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, which captures a fairly large slice of the American West. SAAM’s incorporation of pieces from several different museums from the region in a concentrated effort to feature an array of artists aligns with the exhibition’s focus on a plurality of Western voices.

Many Wests exhibition at the SAAM

Leadership Transition at Art Bridges

After a successful four-year tenure as the founding Chief Executive Officer at Art Bridges Foundation, Paul Provost has decided to step down to focus on new opportunities in the arts that have come his way.

July 26, 2023 (The Art Newspaper)

Art Bridges Foundation featured in The Art Newspaper

In February during Frieze Los Angeles, Bonhams sold Coelscott’s painting Miss Liberty (1980) for $4.5m (including fees) to the Art Bridges Foundation, a non-profit established by billionaire Walmart heiress Alice Walton, who in 2011 founded the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walton has used her wealth to snap up rare works of art at auction for the museum’s collection.

Colescott’s auction record was set in 2021 when George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware (1975) sold for a record-breaking $15.3m (including fees) at Sotheby’s. It was purchased by the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2025.

1919 (1980) by Robert Colescott is estimated to bring in seven figures and become one of the most valuable of the artist's works ever sold at auction. Robert H. Colescott Separate Property Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

July 26, 2023 (Smithsonian Mag)

Art Bridges Foundation Featured In Smithsonian Magazine

Under the stewardship of the Art Bridges Cohort Program, which fosters partnerships among museums to create collaborative exhibitions, the Smithsonian American Art Museum co-curated an expansive, multimedia experience with four museums in fast-growing areas of the western United States: the Boise Art Museum in Idaho; the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon; and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah. For the past two years, the exhibition has stopped at each location; on July 28, it will open at our American Art Museum, its final venue.

Latina author Sandra Cisneros is the subject of Angel Rodríguez-Díaz’s 1993 oil painting The Protagonist of an Endless Story.

July 13, 2023

Art Bridges Foundation Welcomes Class 2 of Art Bridges Fellows

Art Bridges Foundation is pleased to welcome its Class 2 of future museum leaders to the Art Bridges Fellows Program. Class 2 includes six individuals from across the country who will spend the next three years gaining skills and experiences in museum departments from collections to education to curatorial to exhibition design and production.

Art Bridges Fellows Class 2 2023

June 7, 2023 (New York Times)

What Does it Take to Run a Museum? The Job Description Is Changing.

“There is no doubt that, after the murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, museums took action — and some were not doing the smartest things; they were just reacting and hoping not to get canceled or called out,” said Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation. “Things are settling now. There is a transformation underway.”


Ford is one of four funding groups — including the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Pilot House Philanthropy — that last month established the Leadership in Art Museums initiative, which commits more than $11 million to museums to increase racial equity in leadership development.

Activists disrupting museums

May 17, 2023 (JH News and Guide)

Art on the Road: NMWA's Un/Natural Selections on national tour

The National Museum of Wildlife Art’s 50-piece exhibit “Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art” is on a national tour, and every detail of sending the art across the country needs to be as carefully considered as the selections themselves.


“This show all started with a conversation with the Art Bridges Foundation,” Hanawalt said. “Not every show goes on the road, but this was a good show to get out contemporary pieces that we have collected.”


“I started working on the show in 2018,” museum Curator Tammi Hanawalt said. “It started with development for our space, and I’ve been working with Art Bridges since almost Day One on that, too.”

The National Museum of Wildlife Art’s exhibit “Un/Common Selections,” featuring some 50 works from its permanent collection, is on a nationwide tour that started this winter at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina.

May 10, 2023 (Essence)

These Organizations Want More Black People In The Art Industry And They've Dedicated $11 Million To Make It Happen

Earlier this month the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Pilot House Philanthropy announced the Leadership in Art Museums (LAM) initiative in which more than $11M in funding will be allocated to racial equity in the arts.


"Ultimately, the future of museums depends on their ability to stay relevant and serve their communities,” said Alice Walton, philanthropist and founder of Alice L. Walton Foundation. “The LAM museums represent a variety of regions across the U.S., and help ensure that we’re increasing access to museum roles in a way that’s inclusive of communities of color, no matter where the art institution is based. With this dedicated group of funding partners, we’re united in our commitment to achieve long-lasting impact.”

Leadership in Art Museums Initiative

April 19, 2023 (Daily Utah Chronicle)

Many Wests takes critical look at Western narratives

Currently on view at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts is an exhibition titled “Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea.” This collaborative exhibition takes a critical look at Western narratives and who those narratives have historically amplified — or silenced.


Confronting what can sometimes feel like settled narratives is no easy task and certainly not one to be accomplished without community and collaboration. With that in mind, “Many Wests” was collaboratively curated by five museums that were organized by an initiative by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Art Bridges Foundation in Bentonville.

Many Wests at Utah Fine Arts Center

April 5, 2023 (Slug Mag)

Many Wests, on view at UMFA through June 11, depicts the diversity of experiences that has always existed.

48 photographs cover a wall in Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA), making up the Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea exhibit. Connecting past to present is one of Many Wests’ goals. The exhibition challenges the mythology of the American west by centering overlooked and marginalized perspectives.


The project began as a collaboration between Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation for American Art. It resulted in a partnership between the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a consortium of Western museums, including UMFA.

Latina author Sandra Cisneros is the subject of Angel Rodríguez-Díaz’s 1993 oil painting The Protagonist of an Endless Story.

March 5, 2023 (Glass Tire)

Amon Carter Museum Announces Multi-year Partnership with Three Texas Museums

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth has announced a partnership with three Texas museums, made possible by a grant from the Art Bridges Foundation.


Paul R. Provost, Art Bridges Foundation CEO, stated, “Expanding access through collaboration and collection-sharing is at the heart of the Art Bridges Cohort Program, and we’re delighted to have the Amon Carter Museum of American Art leading a cohort with museums across Texas. Countless visitors will be introduced to the Carter’s collections through these exhibitions, and we’re confident the program will deepen engagement with their communities.”

Installation image of “Photography Is Art” on view at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in 2021.

March 1, 2023 (Trib Live)

Westmoreland Museum exhibit combines Native American tradition with modern art

Past meets present in “Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1945-1975,” running through May 28 at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg.


With 52 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by 32 artists, the traveling exhibition is the first of its kind exploring the innovation and experimentation present in modern Native American art.


The traveling exhibition is supported by the Art Bridges Foundation, the Hillman Exhibition Fund of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art and The Heinz Endowments.

Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art 1945-1975

March 1, 2023 (FWTX)

Amon Carter Museum of American Art Announces a Multiyear Partnership

Three Texas museums will have a chance to collaborate with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art all in part to an over quarter of a million-dollar grant from the Art Bridges Foundation.


This new collab will bring a series of special exhibitions drawn in part from the Carter’s collection to three Texas museums: Amarillo Museum of Art (Amarillo), Art Museum of South Texas (Corpus Christi), and Ellen Noël Art Museum (Odessa).

Amon Carter Museum of Art

February 21, 2023 (WVU Today)

WVU takes the arts into local communities

The Art Museum of WVU is dedicated to educational outreach and welcomes group tours from schools and community groups. The Jacknowitz Travel Fund pays for school visits to the museum for primary and secondary students, customized programs at various grade levels, snacks and art supplies for hands-on activities.


During the pandemic, the Art Museum remained connected with community members by sending out approximately 2,000 art kits to students in Monongalia, Preston, Harrison and Upshur counties. The kits, created with grant funding from the Art Bridges Foundation, contained information about West Virginia artist Blanche Lazzell and materials to make prints.

Museum Make It West Virginia University Art Museum Take Home Art Kits

February 2, 2023 (CT Public)

Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum leads consortium with Southern museums

Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is partnering with three Southern art museums to form the American South Consortium as part of a national effort to expand the public’s access to American art.


Thanks to a $2 million grant from the Art Bridges Foundation, the Wadsworth, along with curators from South Carolina’s Columbia Museum of Art, and Alabama’s Mobile Museum of Art and Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, will spend the next three years collaborating on a series of traveling exhibits of American art, using works from each museum’s respective collections.

An untitled 64-by-81-inch latch-hooked rug by sculptor Alexander Calder will be part of a collaborative traveling exhibit between the Wadsworth and museums from South Carolina and Alabama.

January 31, 2023 (Hartford Business)

Wadsworth Atheneum awarded $2M grant to share works of art

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art has received a $2 million grant that will allow the Hartford-based venue to share works of art from its American collections with three southern museums.


The funding comes from the Art Bridges Foundation.


“The Art Bridges Cohort Program allows us to share our exceptional American collections with wider audiences,” Wadsworth Director Matthew Hargraves said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome great objects from institutions in the American South that will expand our understanding and appreciation of the diversity of American art and material culture.”

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

January 23, 2023 (The Short Horn)

Chicano artist exhibit displays universal themes of life and death through art

“Life and Death: Luis Jiménez” features 35 pieces from the late Chicano artist. Containing sculptures, sketches, studies, drawings and prints, the exhibit is running until April 1. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.


“I love [the exhibit], especially culturally, like being able to see into someone else’s culture,” said theater senior Vanessa Hancock. “I think it’s beautiful, and just like the different mediums, it’s really nice to see.”


“Life and Death” shares the gallery with “Bridges III,” which is the third installation of a collaboration with the Art Bridges Foundation. Bridges features works by multiple artists facing each other across walls, allowing them to have a dialogue, according to a press release.

Sculptures, paintings and sketches sit on display at the “Life and Death: Luis Jiménez” gallery Jan. 23 at The Gallery at UTA. The art was co-curated by Benito Huerta and Christina Rees.

December 24, 2022 (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Henry Koerner’s timeless painting draws viewers

Many muses inspired the artwork of Henry Koerner, especially the gilded Baroque architecture of his native Vienna, Austria. Koerner’s portraits of famous people, commissioned by Time magazine, burnished his reputation. He refused to work from photographs and insisted his subjects sit while he sketched. This meant that he met everyone from Barbra Streisand to Nelson Rockefeller and Maria Callas to then-U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy.


According to Jeremiah William McCarthy, Chief Curator at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, “In recent years, major museums have started to collect him again,” adding that the Arkansas-based Art Bridges Foundation, established by Walmart heiress Alice Walton, purchased a seminal Koerner painting titled “The Pigeons.”


The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, established in Los Angeles by filmmaker George Lucas, also owns a Koerner artwork.


“There is now a renewed interest in his work that you can see solely by the market,” McCarthy said.

Koerner Greensburg Courthouse

October 25, 2022 (Washington Post)

Small Town Museum Making a Big Impact

Established in 1958 by six locals, Academy Art Museum (AAM) has a permanent collection that holds works from such figures as Francisco Goya, Mary Cassatt, Ansel Adams and Pablo Picasso, along with contemporary artists like Zanele Muholi, Graciela Iturbide and James Turrell. And it stages regular exhibitions of artists who are closer to home.


What’s not in its permanent collection comes from major loans. “Fickle Mirror” included an early work by Amy Sherald. Also featured in the show was a soaring painting by Nigerian-born artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby titled “I Refuse to Be Invisible.” The work — one of the largest in the exhibit — was on loan from the Art Bridges Foundation, founded by Walmart heiress Alice Walton. With a shared vision of bringing great art to rural spaces, Art Bridges — in Bentonville, Ark. — funded the considerable cost to transport the work to Maryland.

Sarah Jesse Academy Art Museum Director

October 21, 2022 (RIT)

City Art Space celebrates new exhibition

RIT’s City Art Space is celebrating the opening of a new exhibition, “Elemental,” by hosting two events on Wednesday, Nov. 2, and Thursday, Nov. 3.


The exhibition is a rare showing of films by the late pioneering artist Ana Mendieta (1948-1985), whose work spanned photography, film, video, sculpture, performative action, earth-body works, and more.


This exhibition and its programming is made possible by the generous support of Art Bridges.

A still from Ana Mendieta’s “Butterfly,” Super-8mm film transferred to high definition digital media. Credit: The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC.

October 18, 2022 (Next Avenue)

Photography: Part of the Big Picture at the Detroit Institute of Arts

Founded in 1885, the DIA’s collection boasts more than 65,000 works housed in a 658,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts building. Not all the museum’s art stays in the building. Currently, some works are part of “Rethinking Monuments: American Sculptures in Its Time,” an exhibit touring Michigan through the Art Bridges Initiative. Developed by the DIA, the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum in Saginaw and the Grand Rapids Art Museum, the exhibit showcases 19 sculptures made by American artists between 1850 and 2000.

“Rethinking Monuments” is DIA’s second touring exhibit through Art Bridges, which is based in Bentonville Arkansas. Arts patron Alice Walton, founder of Crystal Bridges Museum and The Momentary, started the foundation in 2017.

Farah Al Qasimi, Sally at the Ford Estate, 2019, pigment print.  |  Credit: Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Albert and Peggy DeSalle Charitable Trust and Asian Art Deaccession Fund, 2021.295

October 7, 2022 (NWA Online)

Art Bridges, a nonprofit funded by Alice Walton, sends art around America

What happens when a museum has a renovation and needs to store its treasured pieces for months or even longer? What happens when an artist of import dies and leaves a surplus of beautiful works behind? Should they continue to wait for their turn on walls and pedestals, or is there an alternate life for them in the meantime?


Art Bridges, a nonprofit organization funded by Alice Walton, has the answers in its partner loan network, which launched its pilot phase in June 2021. It started rolling out otherwise unused artworks in late September to partners around the country, so in the past few weeks, works have been arriving at their new, temporary homes.

Art Bridges Staff and Fellows, summer 2022

October 7, 2022 (K State Collegian)

Discover different perspectives and cultures at the Beach Museum of Art

If you ever need a break from your computer screen, consider stopping by the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art. Stroll through the fresh new exhibitions and expect to encounter artworks not just from across Kansas, but from around the world.


Aileen June Wang, curator, put together one of the museum’s newest exhibitions, called “Do You See What I See?” The exhibition features artworks from the museum’s permanent collection alongside works on loan.


“The exhibition features artworks generously loaned by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Bentonville, Arkansas,” Wang said. “The loans were made possible through a partnership with the Art Bridges Foundation founded by philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton.”

Scott Gobber "Kneeling Black Flag"

October 6, 2022 (Around the O)

New exhibit looks at the American West through modern art

An award-winning exhibition that challenges cultural and historical notions of the American West is now on view at the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.


“Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea,” examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the region. The show will run through Dec. 18.


The exhibition is organized jointly by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and four nationally accredited art museums located in some of the fastest-growing cities and states in the western region of the United States. It is the culmination of a five-year exhibition partnership made possible by the Art Bridges Foundation.

Detail from the painting "The Fallen" from "Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea" exhibition

September 29, 2022 (1470 WMBD)

Andy Warhol works on display in Peoria

In 1983, American artist Andy Warhol created the Endangered Species series, which depicts ten animals that were recognized in the Endangered Species Act of 1973.


The screen prints, presented in Warhol’s signature pop style, resemble the artist’s depictions of celebrities like Dolly Parton and Muhammed Ali.


The Warhol exhibit was organized by Art Bridges with works drawn from the collection of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Andy Warhol Endangered Species ad Peoria Riverfront Museum

September 27, 2022 (Yahoo)

Albany Museum of Art workshops to feature works, style of William Johnson

Two Saturday-morning painting workshops at the Albany Museum of Art will give participants the opportunity to explore the shapes, colors, and symbolism employed by renowned American artist William H. Johnson, whose works are currently on view in the AMA Haley Gallery. The workshops are 10 a.m.-noon on Oct. 22 and 29 in the AMA classroom.

An exhibition of Johnson’s work, “Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice,” continues through Dec. 10, at the AMA. The exhibition is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, with support provided by Art Bridges.

William H. Johnson Three Great Abolitionists: A. Lincoln, F. Douglas, J. Brown

August 31, 2022 (Daily Orange)

First exhibition of the year celebrates diversity and identity

The Syracuse University Art Museum’s latest exhibit, “5,500 Years of Art,” is like taking a walk through history, with pieces dating back to 206 BC and as recent as last year.


Designed by Melissa Yuen, one of the museum curators, as well as museum staff and graduate assistants, the curation includes works from the museum’s permanent collection, loans and the pieces from Art Bridges Foundation. It is meant to invoke conversations among students about identity, place, gender, race, labor and lineage.


The Art Bridges Foundation lent two pieces to the SU Art Museum for the exhibit — “Portrait of Qusuquzah #5” and “Double Nonsite, California and Nevada.”

The Syracuse University Art Museum used their extensive collection and loans to put together their "5,500 Years of Art."

August 29, 2022 (WBoy)

WVU Art Museum receives support for Blanche Lazzell exhibition

The Art Museum of West Virginia University (WVU) has announced that Art Bridges will help the museum develop and tour an exhibition of the work of early twentieth century artist, and West Virginia native, Blanche Lazzell.


The award from Art Bridges will allow the Art Museum of West Virginia University to create an exhibition of Lazzell’s work, “Blanche Lazzell: Becoming an American Modernist,” from their extensive holdings.

Blanche Lazzell Hollyhook

August 21, 2022 (Art Fix Daily)

Mattatuck Museum selected to participate in Art Bridges PLN

The Mattatuck Museum announces its participation in the new Art Bridges Partner Loan Network, an innovative art lending model to increase access to outstanding works of American art. As part of this program, the Mattatuck Museum has received 20 artworks from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for a year.


The Art Bridges Partner Loan Network is a new initiative dedicated to bringing American art out of storage and on view into communities across the U.S.

Mattatuck Museum Exterior Waterbury Connecticut

August 18, 2022 (Gettysburg Connection)

Exhibition of text based works opens August 31st at Schmucker Art Gallery

This fall, Schmucker Art Gallery at Gettysburg College presents an exhibition of text-based works by significant artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Elizabeth Catlett, Deborah Dancy, Nekisha Durrett, Guerrilla Girls, Glenn Ligon, Carl Pope, Jr., Faith Ringgold, Hank Willis Thomas, and Carrie Mae Weems. Confuse the Issues: Art, Text, and Identity is on view from August 31 through December 10, 2022.


Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges.

Hank Willis Thomas  Pitch Blackness / Off Whiteness

August 17, 2022 (TBN Weekly)

MFA presents artistic combinations to inspire visual conversations

The Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg — participating in the Art Bridges Partner Loan Network dedicated to American Art — is showcasing 11 contemporary, modern and 19th century works from Joslyn Art Museum.

Titled “In Dialogue: Unexpected Visual Conversations,” the installation debuted Aug. 6 in the MFA’s collection galleries. The exhibition will be on view into June 2023.

Henry Inman, Collection of Joslyn Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Edward R. Trabold and Lulu H. Trabold Fund with additional funds from the Durham Center for Western Studies Art Endowment Fund.

July 13, 2022 (Westfair Online)

The Hudson River Museum expands its footprint and outreach

The largest cultural institution in Westchester County, the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, is about to get bigger — in more ways than one.


The museum is near the end of a two-year, $12.3 million West Wing capital improvement project expanding the museum’s footprint from approximately 40,000 square feet to 52,000 square feet.


“We’re very excited about the dedicated Special Exhibition Galleries,” says Masha Turchinsky, the museum’s director and CEO. “What this means is the spaces traditionally used for special exhibits will be able to feature more of the permanent collection.”

Rendering of the Hudson River Museum's West Wing capital improvement project, which opens this fall.

July 12. 2022 (Native News Online)

Will Wilson Topples the Myth of the American Indian

Diné photographer Will Wilson uses the very tin type and sepia that froze Native Americans in the past to shatter the myth and bring Natives very much into contemporary, modern art.


Wilson’s latest exhibition, In Conversation: Will Wilson, investigates the legacy of historical photographs on the representation of Native peoples in North America. It opened on July 9 at the Delaware Art Museum.

Will Wilson  Selection of 17 works from the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX) project

July 8, 2022 (Delaware Public)

Work from Navajo photographer Will Wilson is now on display at the Delaware Art Museum

Indigenous culture is being celebrated in a summer exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington. In Conversation: Will Wilson opens this weekend.


The exhibit is being paired with a pow wow of arts and culture scheduled for later this month. The national tour of In Conversation: Will Wilson is supported by the Art Bridges Foundation.

Will Wilson  Selection of 17 works from the Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX) project

June 30, 2022 (WCBU)

New art exhibit kicks off Peoria Riverfront Museum’s partnership in national initiative

An exhibit opening Saturday at the Peoria Riverfront Museum marks the beginning of a partnership aimed at expanding access to American art nationwide.


The museum is one of 12 charter members participating in the Art Bridges Partner Loan Network, a initiative announced this week by the Arkansas-based Art Bridges Foundation established by billionaire philanthropist Alice Walton, heiress to the Walmart fortune.

Gallery shot at Peoria Riverfront Museum in Peoria Illinois

June 29, 2022 (WQAD)

Figge works with the Joslyn to display works depicting the American West and Indigenous culture

The Art Bridges Partner Loan Network is dedicated to broadcasting American art to more communities, especially focusing on filling in gaps in museum collections by spotlighting women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists.


For their PLN partnership with the Joslyn Art Museum, Figge is displaying works depicting the American West and Indigenous culture, contrasting the differences between the romanticized West and the Indigenous reality and challenging audiences to re-evaluate how they think about the West’s history, environment, and inhabitants.

Figge Art Museum Davenport Iowa exterior

May 24, 2022 (Glasstire)

Director/Curator Benito Huerta Retires from The Gallery at UTA After 25 Years

After twenty-five years, Professor Benito Huerta will retire in June 2022 from his position as the Director and Curator of The Gallery at UTA, at the University of Texas at Arlington. By far the longest-serving director in the gallery’s nearly 40-year history, Huerta has created an enduring legacy that will be hard to match.


In 2019, he was invited to begin a collaboration with the Art Bridges Foundation to bring museum-quality art to the UTA campus. As part of that program, The Gallery has been able to borrow works by renowned artists from the foundation’s collection, including works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Senga Nengudi in spring 2020 and spring 2021, and a projected video installation work by Bill Viola.

Benito Huerto

April 25, 2022 (QC Times)

After 14 years, 12,000 pieces of art returning to the Stanley Museum of Art

After 14 years, art pieces stored at the Figge Art Museum because of Iowa City flooding are going home.


Massive flooding destroyed parts of Iowa City in 2008, and about 12,000 pieces of art from the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art were moved to the Figge for safe keeping.


Having the additional space will allow the Figge to bring out some of its own permanent collection, Hargrave said, of which around only 3% is on display. The extra room will also allow for new partnerships, Hargrave said, such as the collaboration with the Arts Bridges Foundation in Arkansas, which will bring some pieces to the Figge this summer.

Figge Art Museum gallery

April 5, 2022 (Double Scoop)

Felix Gonzalez-Torres' "Untitled" (L.A.) makes an impact at the Barrick

Many art museums might describe their offerings as a “treat” for their patrons, but the Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV means it literally. For the next year-and-a-half, visitors to the Barrick will find a large pile of individually wrapped green candies on the gallery floor, and they are encouraged to take a piece. Far from an accidental spill or promotional gimmick, the candy pile is one of the more famous works by artist Félix González-Torres, titled simply “Untitled” (L.A.), on loan to the Barrick Museum of Art from the Art Bridges collection.


An openly gay man in the height of the AIDS crisis, González-Torres ostensibly created “Untitled” (L.A.) in homage to a personal loss—that of his long-time partner, Ross Laycock, who succumbed to the disease the year the piece was created in 1991. Five years later, it claimed Gonzalez-Torres himself. Many of his pieces with “L.A.” in the title refer to a time and place when he and Laycock lived happily together.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres Untitled L.A. at the Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV in Spring of 2021

March 13, 2022 (Lake Geneva News)

Blurry Boundaries: Contemporary Artists, Imagination and the Spaces Between opens at Racine Art Museum

On a certain level, being imaginative means producing things in the mind that exist independent of reality, including scenarios that are invented or fantastic. While there may still be connections to day-to-day reality, the scenes, sensations, or ideas within the imagination are fictional.


Blurry Boundaries
addresses these ambiguities, or the spaces between them, by sharing a wide range of works. While primarily drawn from RAM’s collection, the exhibition also spotlights loaned work from Wisconsin-based Yeonhee Cheong and Illinois-based Paul Andrew Wandless.


Additionally, the loan of “Lost at Sea” by Edouard Duval-Carrié represents a newly formed partnership between RAM and Art Bridges, a foundation dedicated to expanding access to American art across the nation.

Edouard Duval-Carrié  Lost at Sea

March 7, 2022 (Resident News)

Jacksonville museum launches American folk art exhibit

American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection opened on Friday, Feb. 11 at Jacksonville’s Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. The exhibit celebrates American folk art and artists.


Showcasing more than 80 works of art dating from the 18th century to modern day, by artists hailing from across the country, the exhibit’s launch has been a long-awaited event for the museum’s curatorial team.

New York-based American Folk Art Museum organized the exhibit, supported by Art Bridges, a foundation devoted to “creating and supporting programs that expand access to American art in all regions across the nation.”

George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee poses next to "Tiger" (1977) by New Mexico artist Felipe Benito Archuleta, part of the Cummer Museum's new exhibit "American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection." Photo by Michele Leivas.

March 3, 2022 (NWA Online)

Building Art Bridges

In the family of American museums, you could say that Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is now an older sibling.


Its little sister is Art Bridges, a relatively new nonprofit organization established by Alice Walton that builds lasting relationships with other museums across the country through collection loans, traveling exhibits, the creation of art programs, funding and much more.

February 28, 2022 (Journal Times)

Boundaries between imagination and reality explored in Racine Art Museum exhibition

RACINE — Blurry Boundaries: Contemporary Artists, Imagination, and the Spaces Between will be on exhibit through Aug. 27 at the Racine Art Museum. This contemporary art exhibit will feature works made from a variety of materials that address the ambiguous connection between reality and imagination.


While primarily drawn from RAM’s collection, the exhibition also spotlights loaned work from Wisconsin-based Yeonhee Cheong and Illinois-based Paul Andrew Wandless. Additionally, the loan of Lost at Sea by Edouard Duval-Carrié represents a newly formed partnership between RAM and Art Bridges, a foundation dedicated to expanding access to American art across the nation.

Edouard Duval-Carrié  Lost at Sea

February 16, 2022 (Rome Sentinel)

Unchained: Allan Rohan Crite, Spirituality and Black Activism explores the spiritual art of Crite

Unchained: Allan Rohan Crite, Spirituality and Black Activism is on view at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Museum of Art, Feb. 20 to May 8 — the first exhibition to explore the spiritual art of Crite, reflecting the African American quest for racial justice in the years leading up to the Civil Rights Movement.


The exhibition brings together more than 60 of the artist’s paintings, watercolors and works on paper which reveal the connections between Crite’s (1910–2007) art and faith. It’s one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as part of the Art Bridges Initiative.

Allan Rohan Crite, American (1910-2007), And The Lord Said, 1934 Oil on canvas, 30x35x3/4 in. framed

January 21, 2022 (CL Tampa)

Our Walls: Real and Imagined starts next Monday, Jan. 24

The Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg is ringing in the new year with brand new artistic experiences for its community.


In conjunction with the Art Bridges Foundation, the museum is welcoming interactive opportunities to immerse St. Pete and art lovers abroad in events centered around various disciplines of the arts, weaving together music, theater, prints and more.

Hughie Lee-Smith  The Walls

January 13, 2022 (Canton Rep)

New exhibitions include pieces from the Art Bridges Collection

“Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross” is the centerpiece of the Canton Museum of Art’s winter exhibition. Featured artwork also includes “Tom Franco and The Ice-Creams: Beyond Struggle, When the Future Hello Meets identities Deep Roots,” as well as “POP!”


“POP!” features pieces from the Canton Museum of Art’s collection and those of private lenders in Ohio, as well as from the collection of the Arkansas-based Art Bridges Foundation.

Richard Prince's "Nurse Elsa" displayed as part of the "Pop!" exhibition

January 12, 2022 (ArtNet)

Native Curators are Changing the Narrative of American Art

As a tidal wave of racial reckoning has forced the museum industry to confront its dismal record on diversity, curators of American art are beginning to reassess galleries devoted almost exclusively to Hudson Valley landscapes and Rococo portraits by dead white men.


With the aid of curators and artists from Native American backgrounds, curators across the U.S. are broadening narratives, questioning stereotypes, and collapsing categories.


Inside the Delaware Art Museum, conversations about a gradual reboot of the American galleries began in 2017, according to Heather Coyle, the institution’s chief curator and curator of American art.

Installation image of Picturing America (American Art through 1900), 2021. Photograph © Delaware Art Museum. Photo: S. Woodloe for Delaware Art Museum.

November 5, 2021 (Traverse City Record Eagle)

Museum Matters: Celebrating 22 years, 30 artists with holiday artist market

“One year ago, we announced that the entire market would transition to a virtual platform thanks to a brand-new store website generously funded by the Art Bridges Foundation.


While we were thankful for the opportunity to continue the market in a virtual format amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we deeply missed welcoming artisans and visitors alike to our community’s museum.


This year, we look forward to hosting the annual Holiday Artist Market on-site at the Dennos Museum Center.”

Craig Hadley, Director of Dennos Museum Center

October 26, 2021 (Town and Country Magazine)

How Alice Walton is Bringing the Art World to Rural America

“Everybody deserves access to art. Art is hope, it’s opportunity, it’s education, it’s all of the things we all want.”


[Alice] Walton says Art Bridges grew out of Crystal Bridges’ mission and her lack of access to art when she was a child. “Art Bridges is exactly what Crystal Bridges was all about, and that is giving access to art that people in rural, smaller parts of the country don’t have,” she says, adding that it will also partner with major urban museums, like LACMA, to help them reach underserved urban areas.


“Crystal Bridges is of a place—it is of northwest Arkansas,” says Art Bridges CEO Paul Provost. “Art Bridges is a national mission. In the same way [Alice has] provided access to great works in northwest Arkansas, Art Bridges will do that very thing around the nation.” He notes that the organization currently has projects underway in almost every state.

Alice Walton and Paul Provost at Crystal Bridges

October 8, 2021 (ArtNet)

Nellie Mae Rowe's first major exhibition in 20 years at the High Museum of Art

By the end of her life, the self-taught artist Nellie Mae Rowe (1900–1982) had been widely recognized for her unique artistic practice, finding both institutional and commercial success for her drawings and sculptures made from all manner of household materials. But a new exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta is the Georgia-born artist’s first major exhibition in 20 years.


After it closes at the High in January, “Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe” will embark on a national tour with the Art Bridges Foundation through 2024. The exhibition is drawn largely from the museum’s deep holdings of the artist’s work, including a 130-piece gift from the dealer Judith Alexander, who was the first in the art world to champion Rowe.

Nellie Mae Rowe What It Is

October 8, 2021 (The Dickinsonian)

"Horace Pippin: Racism and War" opens at the Trout Gallery

“Horace Pippin: Racism and War” debuted in the Trout Gallery on Friday, September 24th. The exhibit, open until Feb. 19, 2022, centers around Pippin’s painting “Mr. Prejudice,” on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art through the Art Bridges Initiative program.

Art Bridges Philadelphia Museum of Art Horace Pippin: Racism and War Exhibition

September 29, 2021 (Dallas Morning News)

DMA puts spotlight on Henry Ossawa Tanner

Two paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner in the Dallas Museum of Art’s small but rich show on the artist — fresh from months of painstaking conservation treatment — offer a glimpse into the world of sophisticated expatriate Americans in Paris in the years around 1900.

The exhibit shows the importance of the new, and well-endowed Art Bridges Foundation, which funded the conservation and study of the paintings on view. The foundation’s mission is to promote American art in museums throughout the United States.

Henry Ossawa Tanner  The Thankful Poor

September 22, 2021 (Town Topics)

"Daring Design" explores influences on Wharton Esherick's work

The Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa., now features an exhibition highlighting the influences that shaped the work of sculptor and woodworker Wharton Esherick. “Daring Design: The Impact of Three Women on Wharton Esherick’s Craft” runs through February 6, 2022.


The exhibition explores the significant impact of three women – industrialist Helene Fischer, artist Hanna Weil, and photographer Marjorie Content – on Esherick’s career and development at a pivotal creative moment for the artist in the 1930s.


This is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the Art Bridges Initiative.

“FISCHER END TABLE WITH LAP LIGHT”: 1932 piece by Wharton Esherick

September 14, 2021 (Paper City Mag)

The Dallas Museum of Art is Having a Monumental September

Two works by one of the most revered African American painters, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), recently received a thorough conservation treatment and subsequent study by the DMA team. The paintings The Thankful Poor (1894), on loan from Art Bridges Foundation (which also funded the conservation efforts) and the DMA’s Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures (1908) are paired in an intimate installation.

Henry Ossawa Tanner  The Thankful Poor

September 8, 2021 (NPR)

Henry Owassa Tanner at the Dallas Museum of Art

When he was 11 years old, Henry Ossawa Tanner spotted a man painting in a Philadelphia park. The boy decided he wanted to paint, too. His parents gave him 15 cents, and he bought — his words — “dry colors and a couple of scraggy brushes.” Eventually he became the first African American artist with an international reputation.


Tanner’s Christ and his Mother Studying the Scriptures and The Thankful Poor are on view at the Dallas Museum of Art through early January. Conservation work was done on both, and X-rays and infrared photography revealed surprises and insights into the artist’s thought process. Both paintings are presented in conjunction with the Art Bridges Foundation.

Henry Owassa Tanner

September 1, 2021 (Forbes)

Art Bridges Brings Terry Adkins, Mark Bradford And Kerry James Marshall To Peoria Riverfront Museum

Through the support of Art Bridges, the Peoria Riverfront Museum now spotlights the work of the world’s leading contemporary Black male artists through the exhibition “American Verses: Terry Adkins, Mark Bradford & Kerry James Marshall.”


Landing artwork of this caliber without the help of Art Bridges would be unthinkable to a city and institution the size of Peoria and the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Mark Bradford  Thelxiepeia Terry Adkins  Native Son (Circus) installation Peoria Riverfront Museum Peoria Illinois

August 13, 2021 (San Antonio Mag)

San Antonio Museum of Art Unveils Three Community Murals

On August 13, San Antonio Museum of Art unveiled three new murals created by local artists—one by Victor Zarazua at Wicho’s Mexican Deli, one by Sandra Gonzalez at Tony G’s and a third by Suzy Gonzalez outside the museum.


The murals were created through a grant to the museum from the Art Bridges Foundation, which works to bring art out into communities nationwide.

Victor Zarazua's mural at Wicho's Mexican Deli in San Antonio Texas

August 13, 2021 (Tap Into Montclair)

Two new exhibitions open this fall at the Montclair Art Museum

Montclair Art Museum (MAM) announces two new exhibitions (Transformed: Objects Reimagined by American Artists and By Our Own Hand: Frontline Arts in collaboration with Donna Massin) will open this fall, in addition to Color Riot! How Color Changed Navajo Textiles. All three exhibitions will open on September 12, 2021.


On special loan from the Art Bridges Foundation, Jasper John’s major early painting Alphabets, 1960-62, plays a significant role in the Transformed exhibition. Also pertinent is Jaune Quick-to-Smith’s painting with collage elements, War Shirt (1992). Viewers’ understanding of Quick-to-Smith’s work and that of other Native artists is greatly enriched in juxtaposition with Nicholas Galanin’s I Think It Goes Like This (Gold), 2019, also on loan from the Art Bridges Foundation.

Jasper Johns  Alphabets

July 28, 2021 (Patch)

“Rebecca Louise Law: The Journey” now at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens presents “Rebecca Louise Law: The Journey” through January 9, 2022. Art Bridges is a lead sponsor of the exhibition.


A proponent of sustainability, Law will incorporate 1.2 million flowers from her previous installations around the world in the creation of the Museum’s installation, which also requires more than 1,200 community volunteer hours to install.

Rebecca Louise Law The Journey detail

July 27, 2021 (Smithsonian Mag)

SAAM's Many Wests Challenges Mythic Conceptions of the American West

Now on tour! Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, a collaboration among SAAM and four partner museums, offers counterviews of “the West” through the eyes of modern and contemporary artists.


Many Wests
 presents an opportunity to examine previous misconceptions, question racist clichés, and highlight all Americans, including the Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities who also stake a claim in the American West.


The exhibition is the culmination of a deeply collaborative curatorial effort between the five museums and is part of a multi-year initiative made possible by the Art Bridges Foundation.

Latina author Sandra Cisneros is the subject of Angel Rodríguez-Díaz’s 1993 oil painting The Protagonist of an Endless Story.

June 30, 2021 (TV 6)

“Art in Flight” now in Ludington Park

A new flock of birds made their way to Escanaba and is here to stay. Individual metal birds – each one different – together make up the “Art in Flight” metal sculpture in Ludington Park. Each of the birds was painted by different people in the community and each of the poles have a little bit of give, allowing the birds to look like they’re flying through the wind.

The Bonifas received a grant of about $17,000 from Art Bridges, an organization supporting American art. That money was used to purchase technology for virtual art classes and supplies for “Art in Flight.”

Art In Flight sculpture at Ludington Park in Escanaba Michigan

June 20, 2021 (The Advocate)

LSU Museum of Art's Summer Program Brings Art to Kids

LSU Museum of Arts Neighborhood Arts Project (NAP), which provides free art activities in East Baton Rouge Parish under pop-up tents at sites, is returning this summer.


The project distributes art kits with art supplies and engaging lessons and is safely distributed to long-term NAP collaborators and community organizations meeting current nutrition needs and filling educational gaps. The program is made possible with the support of several organizations, including Art Bridges.

Grant Benoit, LSU Museum of Art educator and public programs manager, helps youngsters in the Neighborhood Arts Project, which will be held for free at various sites this summer.

June 4, 2021 (E-Flux)

SAAM's Many Wests Offers New Perspectives on the American West

Ideas about the American West, both in popular culture and in commonly accepted historical narratives, are often based on a past that never was, and fail to take into account important events that actually occurred. The exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of this region.


The exhibition is organized jointly by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and four nationally accredited art museums located in some of the fastest growing cities and states in the western region of the United States. It is the culmination of a five-year exhibition partnership made possible by the Art Bridges Foundation.

Latina author Sandra Cisneros is the subject of Angel Rodríguez-Díaz’s 1993 oil painting The Protagonist of an Endless Story.

June 2, 2021 (Patch)

DIA Partners with Macomb Community College to exhibit American Spectacle

Macomb Community College’s Lorenzo Cultural Center in partnership with the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) presents American Spectacle: Selections from the Nancy and Sean Cotton Collection of American Art, June 11 – Sept. 11.


This is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Detroit Institute of Arts as part of the Art Bridges Initiative.

Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) presents American Spectacle: Selections from the Nancy and Sean Cotton Collection of American Art

June 2, 2021 (Culture Map San Antonio)

Three San Antonio neighborhood spots transform into murals

Three local artists will be painting the town red — and blue and green and yellow — this summer, as part of a citywide community mural project spearheaded by the San Antonio Museum of Art.


The community mural project is supported by a SAMA grant from the nonprofit Art Bridges Foundation and a joint effort between SAMA, the San Anto Cultural Arts, and the San Antonio African American Community Archive & Museum

San Antonio Art Museum - Members of the TapPilam Coahuiltecan Nation

May 26, 2021 (Metro Philadelphia)

Art Bridges and the Philadelphia Museum of Art help Allentown connect in new ways

The Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation for American Art awarded more than $700,000 to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to support a program of sharing treasures from the Museum’s renowned collections with communities across Pennsylvania. One of those artistic communities is the Allentown Art Museum.


With ‘Roots: Sources for American Art and Design,’ Allentown is embarking with their second exhibition with the PMA, and this one is meant to make audiences aware.

Roots install at Allentown Art Museum

May 18, 2021 (Forbes)

High Museum of Art Elevates Legacy of Nellie Mae Rowe

Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe, going on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta from September 3 through January 9, 2022, is the first exhibition in more than 20 years to celebrate the work of Rowe, who displayed hundreds of drawings, handmade dolls, and found-object installations, in her home, known as “The Playhouse.”


The groundbreaking exhibition inaugurates the High’s partnership with the Art Bridges, founded in 2017 by Walmart heiress Alice Walton to support the creation of programs that expand access to American art in all regions across the nation, enabling the show to travel nationally into 2023.

Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900 - 1982) 'Happy Days' (1981) crayon and pencil on paper, 18 inches x 24 inches HIGH MUSEUM OF ART, ATLANTA, T. MARSHALL HAHN COLLECTION, 1997.105. © ESTATE OF NELLIE MAE ROWE/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK.

May 18, 2021 (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Self-taught artist gets first comprehensive exhibit in two decades

Nellie Mae Rowe, the visionary artist, born on a farm in Fayetteville on July 4, 1900, will be celebrated this fall in a major show at the High Museum of Art, called “Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe.”


The show will include about 60 pieces by Rowe, including works on paper, sculptures and dolls, along with photos of her work and life by Lucinda Bunnen, Melinda Blauvelt and others.

Support from the Art Bridges Foundation will allow the exhibit to travel to other museums through 2023.

Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900 - 1982), My House is Clean Enough to Be Healthy and it Dirty Enough to be Happy, 1978-1982, crayon and pencil on paper, 18 x 24 inches, gift of Judith Alexander

May 13, 2021 (The Rapidian)

Grand Rapids Art Museum Presents Exhibition of over 80 American Folk Art Objects

An exhibition of over 80 American folk art objects, spanning from paintings and pottery, to quilts, needlework, and sculpture, will open at the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) on May 22 in American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. The fascinating artworks span the entirety of our nation’s history, offering firsthand testimony to the people, places, and events of our culture.


The exhibition is organized by the American Folk Art Museum, New York, with support provided by Art Bridges.

Freedom Quilt, Jessie B. Telfair

May 3, 2021 (Express News)

The San Antonio Museum of Art celebrates jazz with a pop-up studio and free art kits

Raul Rene Gonzalez’ is the featured artist in “Jazz in Action,” a short residency at the San Antonio Museum of Art. He will paint there the next two Saturdays, working to tracks from a 60-song jazz playlist he curated. Musicians with songs on the list include Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Cannonball Adderley and Theloneous Monk.


Gonzalez’s new painting is intended to spin off from three works on loan to the museum from the Art Bridges Foundation: Max Weber’s Interior with Music, a 1915 abstract; Archibald Motley’s Bronzeville at Night, a 1949 painting of a lively evening in a Black neighborhood in Chicago; and Stuart Davis’ Untitled (Black and White Variation on ‘Pochade’), an abstract work from roughly 1956 to 1958.


As part of his current residency, patrons are invited to get in on the action, too, by creating their own work while listening to the playlist on the museum’s Spotify page, samuseum. Free art kits for children and adults — including a small canvas, acrylic paints and paint brushes — will be given away during Gonzalez’s museum sessions to help them get going.


His residency is part of a slate of programming underwritten by a $20,000 grant from the Art Bridges Foundation. The organization encourages grant recipients to use the funds for innovative, community-based programs.

Raul Rene Gonzalez painting at the San Antonio Art Museum during "Jazz in Action"

April 29, 2021 (Prime Publishers)

The Mattatuck Museum presents A Face Like Mine as part of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation initiative

The exhibit, A Face Like Mine, on view from May 2 through September 12, is the second in a three-part exhibition series developed in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.


The MFA Boston is the lead museum from Northeast cohort of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation initiative (now called the Cohort Program). The initiative, wholly funded by Art Bridges, supports multi-year exhibition partnerships with the mission of expanding access to American art across the US.

A Face Like Mine Exhibition Mattatuck Museum Waterbury Connecticut

April 28, 2021 (Art and Object)

High Museum Celebrates Self-Taught Artist Nellie Mae Rowe

This fall, the High Museum of Art will present Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe (Sept. 3, 2021-Jan. 9, 2022), featuring nearly sixty works drawn from the Museum’s folk and self-taught art collection, which has the largest public holdings of Rowe’s art.


Really Free
 marks the Museum’s first partnership with the Art Bridges Foundation, an organization dedicated to expanding access to American art, which will allow the exhibition to travel nationally into 2023.

Nellie Mae Rowe, Untitled (Voting), before 1978. Color photograph, crayon, pencil, and colored pencil on cardboard. 20 x 30 1/8 in.

April 28, 2021 (Yes Weekly)

Family-friendly event includes free museum admission, take home art activities and a virtual pollination station

Reynolda’s annual free Community Day event will return as an in-person and virtual hybrid “Pollination Station” program this year on the front lawn of Reynolda House, inside the museum, and online for those more comfortable exploring digitally or who would like to connect further after their visit to Reynolda.


Support for “Pollination Station” Community Day at Reynolda has been provided by Art Bridges.

Reynolda's annual free Community Day event

April 27, 2021 (Broadway World)

Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe to be Presented at the High Museum of Art

This fall, the High Museum of Art will present “Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe” (Sept. 3, 2021-Jan. 9, 2022), featuring nearly 60 works drawn from the Museum’s folk and self-taught art collection, which has the largest public holdings of Rowe’s art.


“Really Free” marks the Museum’s first partnership with the Art Bridges Foundation, an organization dedicated to expanding access to American art, which will allow the exhibition to travel nationally into 2023.

Nellie Mae Rowe What It Is

April 22, 2021 (Buckrail)

National Museum of Wildlife Art presents Un/Natural Selections, sponsored by Art Bridges

Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, is a debut exhibit that considers the diverse ways in which contemporary artists employ animal imagery to address humanity’s interconnectedness and ever-changing relationship with the natural world.


From May 22- Aug. 22, Un/Natural Selections will debut at NMWA, a collection brought forth by the community for the community. The exhibition was generously sponsored by Art Bridges, Anne and Michael Moran, Thomas and Elizabeth Grainger Family Charitable Fund, Maggie and Dick Scarlett Endowment in honor of Joffa and Bill Kerr, Mays Family Foundation, and Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

Lauren Strohacker & Kendra Sollars', Video Projection titled Animal Land, will be on display at the NMWA's Un/Natural Selections Exhibit debuting May 22. Photo: Lauren Strohacker & Kendra Sollars

April 21, 2021 (Waterbury Observer)

The public is invited to preview A Face Like Mine, organized in collaboration with the MFA, Boston

The Board and Staff of the Mattatuck Museum invite the public to preview A Face Like Mine, a major exhibition organized in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.


The MFA Boston is the lead museum from Northeast cohort of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation initiative. The initiative, wholly funded by Art Bridges, supports multi-year exhibition partnerships with the mission of expanding access to American art across the US.

Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955), Supermodel, 1994, Acrylic and collage on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The John Axelrod Collection—Frank B. Bemis Fund, Charles H. Bayley Fund, and the Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection, 2011.1825, Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

April 20, 2021

Art Bridges Announces Appointment of New Director of Art Bridges Fellows Program

Art Bridges Foundation announces the appointment of Alana Ryder as Director of the Art Bridges Fellows Program, effective immediately.


“The Art Bridges Fellows Program is a cornerstone initiative that builds on our mission of expanding access to American art across the nation, and I’m thrilled to welcome Alana Ryder as the program’s first director,” said Paul Provost, CEO, Art Bridges.

Alana Ryder, Director, Fellows and Cohort Programs

April 9, 2021 (Culture Map San Antonio)

SAMA taps San Antonio artists for new initiatives inspired by modern works

The San Antonio Museum of Art has received a grant that will enable the organization to tap San Antonio artists for a number of new art initiatives at the museum and in the community.


The $20,000 grant from the Art Bridges Foundation will fund a variety of art-based initiatives for the museum, including its Jazz in Action program, which features a local artist painting to jazz music.

San Antonio Museum of Art exterior

April 6, 2021 (Antiques and the Arts Weekly)

FUAM's "Birds of the Northeast: Gulls to Great Auks" explores avian history and plight

“Birds of the Northeast: Gulls to Great Auks” celebrates the majesty and diversity of birds within our midst, but also speaks with urgency about the ways in which our lives and diminishing bird populations are interlinked.


Art Bridges support enabled development of the exhibition, including the ability of FUAM to borrow the Marsden Hartley painting, “Give Us This Day,” from Crystal Bridges.

Birds of the Northeast: Gulls to Great Auks at Fairfield University Art Museum

April 6, 2021 (Penn State News)

Palmer Museum of Art opens abstract art exhibition

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State presents “Mark Makers: The Language of Abstraction,” a special exhibition bringing together paintings, drawings and prints by notable 20th-century artists.


The exhibition was created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative.

Palmer Museum of Art exterior

April 1, 2021

Art Bridges Announces Ashley Holland as Associate Curator

Art Bridges Foundation announces today that Ashley Holland has been promoted to Associate Curator. Holland previously held the position of Assistant Curator since August 2018. Her promotion takes effect immediately.

March 14, 2021 (The DA Online)

Art Museum of WVU Shares Walker Evans Exhibit Virtually

Art Museum of WVU Educational Programs Manager Heather Harris discusses how Art Bridges support has helped the museum connect with their community over the past year, including the ability to bring MoMA’s “Walker Evans American Photographs” touring exhibition to Morgantown.

Walker Evans Interior Detail West Virginia Coal Miner's House

March 13, 2021 (Go Erie)

Erie Art Museum looks to strengthen ties with their community as they reopen

New Erie Art Museum Executive Director Laura Domencic discusses her plans to strengthen the institution’s bond with the local community as they prepare to reopen. She also discusses the museum’s participation in the Art Brides + Terra Foundation Initiative as a partner in the Philadelphia Museum of Art cohort.

Erie Art Museum Executive Director Laura Domencic

March 10, 2021 (TV6)

Bonifas Arts Center presents "Youth in Art"

The 2021 ” Youth in Art” exhibit, supported by Art Bridges, features artwork from local students on display at the Bonifas Art Center.

Bonifas Art Center "Youth in Art" exhibit

March 4, 2021 (News 12 the Bronx)

News 12 segment features exhibits at the Hudson River Museum

The “Art as a passport” segment on News 12 features the Hudson River Museum and two current exhibits supported by Art Bridges (Border Cantos | Sonic Border and an exhibit by Cynthia Daignault).

March 1, 2021 (Lohud)

The Hudson River Museum Examines U.S./Mexico Border Struggle with "Border Cantos | Sonic Border"

Staff from the Hudson River Museum discuss the Art Bridges-supported exhibition, “Border Cantos | Sonic Border” and it’s ability to encourage conversations around migration and its impact.

"Agua 1 Near Calexico California" by Richard Misrach.

February 23, 2021 (Aldia News)

Free webinar tours delve into works exposing Florida's tragic racist legacy

Three digital tours on the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s webinar platform, created with support from Art Bridges, are available to critique and educate about Florida’s racist past.

Boca Raton Museum of Art exterior

February 16, 2021 (Tallahassee Democrat)

Gadsden Arts Center and Museum Connecting With Teens via Arts Council

The Gadsden Arts and Museum Teen Art Council, created via an Art Bridges programming grant, was featured in the Tallahassee Democrat’s Council on Culture & Arts.

Members of the Teen Art Council with Gadsden Arts' Executive Director Grace Robinson outside the museum in Quincy

February 11, 2021 (Tampa Bay Times)

MFA, St. Petersburg borrows masterpieces from the Art Bridges Collection

Four paintings from the Art Bridges Collection by celebrated 20th century American artists are on display in the museum’s Modern and Post War galleries. The loans expand the museum’s inclusivity with works by Black, female and LGBTQ artists.

Norman Lewis  Untitled (Subway Station)