Museum Organizers, Supporters Still Enthused One Year Later
Community involvement integral to success, director says
Last updated Monday, June 5, 2006 10:14 PM CDT in News
By Kristin Netterstrom
The Morning News
ROGERS -- The surprise purchase of Asher B. Durand’s “Kindred Spirits” painting catapulted Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art into the spotlight last May, and one year later the museum’s executive director is busy working the community club circuit as a way to hold interest in a project that won’t be finished for at least three years.
Bob Workman has the job of promoting what he and others hope will become a world-class museum in Bentonville, attracting up to 250,000 people annually once it opens in fall 2009.
Workman, who moved to Bentonville for the position, constantly networks with other museum officials, community leaders and the general public through presentations and meetings. He has even joined the Bentonville Rotary and is figuring out how new models to be completed by August can be displayed in the Massey Building, where Crystal Bridges’ offices are.
“Museums thrive only in communities where there’s strong stakeholdership,” Workman said Monday at a Friends of the Rogers Public Library gathering.
The museum has an aggressive annual visitation projection that will require attracting 25 percent of the local population every year, Workman said. Part of that goal will be met by having open spaces for weddings, performances and dinners, he said.
“That’s how a lot of people will learn about Crystal Bridges,” Workman said.
Gail Johnston and her son, Chris Johnston, have been following Crystal Bridges’ story. The Rogers family likes to visit museums and Chris, a sophomore at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, plans to major in museum studies.
“We’ve gone to a lot of museums when he was young. Seeing things live, in person, is a lot more than seeing a picture,” said Gail Johnston, who retains her enthusiasm about the museum a year after it was announced.
City officials also can’t stop talking about the museum. The museum came up at a discussion about a proposed roundabout intersection at Moberly Lane and John DeShields Boulevard. Main Street Bentonville Director Bob Haynes continues to point out the need to have a trolley system in place by the time the museum opens.
Crystal Bridges, to be off Northeast “J” Street, will directly benefit from a planned expansion of Central Avenue. Homes in the downtown area have been bought with the idea of establishing bed and breakfast inns for future tourists.
“I’m really excited about the way the community is looking at the opportunity and seizing it,” Workman said.
The museum is only one piece of the puzzle that could become an economic engine for the area, he said.
Arkansas legislators helped the museum along last year when they approved a bill by Rep. Horace Hardwick, R-Bentonville. The act exempts a $30 million museum with more than $100 million in artwork from the state sales tax -- for both the building and purchases. Arkansas has a 6 percent sales tax.
Museum organizers originally estimated the 100,000-square-foot museum would cost $50 million to develop. Workman said Monday that he would release an updated estimate later this year.
Alice Walton, daughter of the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, and the Walton Family Foundation are behind the museum, which will be placed on a 100-acre parcel of family land on Northeast “J” Street.
Although museum organizers haven’t broken ground yet, there’s been plenty of work behind the scenes during the first year.
Workman, hired as executive director in January, brought in Christopher Crosman from Maine to be curator. Architect Moshe Safdie is completing the museum’s design and organizers switched landscape architects, from Peter Walker to Reed/Hilderbrand Associates.
The second year will yield even more activity.
Workman plans to hire a director of education by fall. That person will be responsible for creating a relationship with area schools.
Paintings provide plenty of learning opportunities, Workman said. The museum seeks out pieces that help people understand America and how American culture formed, he said.
Site work will also commence later this year, Workman said, and 15 months from now, two 240-foot-tall cranes will loom in the Bentonville skyline.
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