“The Most Unlikely of Places:” Opportunities and Challenges of Location at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

ABSTRACT

In the grand tradition of Isabella Stewart Gardner and Henry Clay Frick, Alice L. Walton has used her immense wealth to create a world-class museum for the enjoyment of a broad public audience. Unlike Gardner and Frick, however, Walton, who opened a museum in 2011, did not select a location in a bustling metropolis to build what will become her greatest legacy. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s location in Bentonville, Arkansas presents a set of challenges and opportunities for the museum and its mission to educate in particular. This article explores how a museum which Walton founded, built in her hometown, approaches these challenges and opportunities to museum education as America’s newest world-class art museum.

KEYWORDS:

• Alice Walton
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
• Bentonville
• AR
• rural museums
• museum education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

About the author

Nile Blunt is the Head of School Programs at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. In this role, he is responsible for the design, development, and implementation of all K-12 school and teacher programs. Moreover, he manages the school visits programs, the school partnership programs, the teacher professional development programs, as well as online learning initiatives. He also oversees the Windgate Educational Excellence through the Arts Endowed Fund. Blunt holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Notes

1 Vogel, “A Billionaire’s Eye for Art Shapes her Singular Museum.”

2 Kennicott, “Crystal Bridges in Arkansas.”

3 Smith, “Crystal Bridges, the Art Museum Walmart Money Built, Opens.”

4 Woronkowicz, Set in Stone, 1–38.

5 Kennicott, “Crystal Bridges.”

6 Cottingham, “An Interview with Alice Walton.”

7 Meade, “Alice’s Wonderland” and Failing, “Heart of the Country.”

8 Failing, “American Art, Alice Walton’s Way.”

9 Vogel, “A Billionaire’s Eye for Art Shapes her Singular Museum.”

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Mead, “Alice’s Wonderland.”

13 Kennicott, “Crystal Bridges.”

14 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Audience Survey Demographic Report.

15 Failing, “American Art.”

16 Kennicott, “Crystal Bridges.”

17 Smith, “Crystal Bridges, the Art Museum Walmart Money Built, Opens.”

18 Le Cavalier, “Patrons and Prototypes: Walmart’s Extreme Urbanism,” 26–35.

19 Cottingham, “An Interview with Alice Walton.”

20 Burnham and Kai-Kee, Teaching in the Art Museum: Interpretation as Experience, 87.

21 Greene, “The Educational Value of Field Trips.”

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 Kennicott, “Crystal Bridges.”

26 Ibid.

27 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Men of Steel, Women of Wonder.

28 Esman, “How Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Exposes the Foolishness of Occupy Wall Street.”

29 Cottingham, “An Interview with Alice Walton.”

30 Esman, “Alice Walton.”

31 Smith, “Crystal Bridges.”

32 Laura Beach, “In the American Grain.”