Crystal Bridges launches initiative to help art museums innovate, thrive

The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Jun. 28—BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has launched Remuseum, a project that aims to spur innovation across U.S. art museums.

The three-year project is designed to help museums develop new approaches to relevance, governance and financial stability, Crystal Bridges said in a recent announcement of Remuseum.

"From our inception at Crystal Bridges, we started by breaking conventions — launching a major museum in America's heartland built on the foundational idea of radical access to amazing art experiences. We're not done. We're constantly learning and adapting," said Rod Bigelow, executive director and chief diversity and inclusion officer, in a statement.

Remuseum is inspired and supported by arts patron David Booth, with additional support from the Ford Foundation. It will be led by Stephen Reily, an attorney and entrepreneur who served as director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, from 2017 to 2021

Reily invigorated the newly renovated Speed museum with a mission of public service and increased both contributed revenue and accessibility, Crystal Bridges officials said. During his tenure there, he worked with others to present "Promise, Witness, Remembrance," an exhibit that was offered as the museum responded in real time to the killing of Breonna Taylor and a year of protests in Louisville.

"Three or four decades ago, most American art museums had mission statements focused on the preservation and presentation of objects to people," Reily said in a statement. "Today, the mission statements of even very traditional museums prioritize serving and engaging people with art. Because the resources, incentives and policies that govern the field remain heavily weighted in outdated models, the resulting tension puts museums at risk, both of failing to fulfill their public-facing new missions, or of failing altogether. Remuseum will use data to provoke new ways of aligning museums' work with their missions — and most importantly, the communities they serve."

Among the first steps in Remuseum's three-year plan is the formation of an advisory committee that will be announced later this year, officials said.