Has there ever been a small state with as much money being invested in the arts as is the case in Arkansas right now? I can't think of one.
We start our statewide tour in Bentonville, where the already spectacular Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is increasing the size of its current facilities by 50 percent. Almost 100,000 square feet are being added to the 200,000-square-foot architectural gem, increasing Crystal Bridges' capacity for exhibitions, educational and outreach initiatives, cultural programming and community events.
At the time the expansion was announced, Crystal Bridges founder Alice Walton said: "It's wonderful to see how our community, our region and travelers to Bentonville from across the nation and around the world have embraced Crystal Bridges and enjoyed the experience of being surrounded by art, nestled in nature and immersed in Moshe Safdie's architecture.
"With the number of visitors we welcome annually, it's timely to enlarge our building and make sure more people can access these offerings. Having Safdie Architects expand on the original Crystal Bridges design with this addition will create a unified experience for enjoying art, nature and architecture."
Crystal Bridges has had more than five million visitors since opening on Nov. 11, 2011. Safdie said: "It has been a joy to see Crystal Bridges' enthusiastic reception by the public. We are honored to be back and working with the museum to realize a series of facilities that will enrich the diversity of the museum experience."
Meanwhile, The Momentary, Crystal Bridges' sister institution in Bentonville, continues to gain momentum. The contemporary art museum, which is in a former Kraft manufacturing facility, had the misfortune of opening just weeks before the pandemic began in early 2020. Visitor numbers have soared during the past two years, however.
In 2014, Crystal Bridges curators met with 1,000 working artists for a survey of American art titled "State of the Art." After an exhibition based on the survey closed, museum officials began planning The Momentary.
In Little Rock, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts opened in MacArthur Park in late April and already is receiving rave reviews from across the country. Forbes called it "America's most inviting art museum."
Chadd Scott wrote for Forbes: "Inviting. That best describes the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock, renamed and reopened following a four-year, $150-plus million renovation. The refreshed museum is bright, open and airy. Artworks on view are big, colorful and uplifting.
"Featured are striking masterpieces from modern art history's top names, particularly the Impressionists, who remain the most inviting artists to much of the museum-going public. Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir--fine examples of each are on display."
Scott wrote that the presentation at AMFA seems to say to visitors: "Come on in. Look around. This is art. It's for you."
"There are no ropes or alarms or barriers placed in front of the art," he wrote. "Visitors were smiling. Talking. Joking. The building and installation fostered that. Supporting this invitation, admission to AMFA is free. Parking is free. The museum front and back intentionally open onto shaded park space, welcoming passerby to pop in, or giving youngsters a quick exit to run around and play outside.
"The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. I am unaware of any other art museum in the country with that many extended nighttime hours, AMFA recognizing working people should be afforded the opportunity to see art as well, and not just on the weekend."
MacArthur Foundation "genius award" winner Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects unified the old Arkansas Arts Center with modern additions. She worked closely with fellow genius Kate Orff of SCAPE Landscape Architecture, the first landscape architect to ever win a MacArthur "genius award."
"Sustainability was a key consideration throughout," Scott writes. "Most prominently, the distinctive design of the roof shades and cools the building, reducing energy use while also catching stormwater and channeling runoff into a series of native plant rain gardens intentionally placed and planted to filter and disperse the water and attract pollinators and migratory birds.
"The landscape design also incorporated the planting of 250 native trees that will mature to combine with existing trees on site to form a shade canopy covering the grounds."
Between Crystal Bridges and AMFA, a state of just more than 3 million residents now has two world-class art museums. That alone is impressive, especially in a place where a top tourist attraction when I was a boy was a theme park based on the state's hillbilly image. But there's more going on when it comes to the arts in Arkansas. A lot more.
In the emerging Little Rock neighborhood now being branded as East Village, plans are moving forward for the Artspace Windgate campus. Windgate Foundation officials began meeting with artists and civic leaders in 2018 to determine if there needed to be a live-work space for artists.
A four-story building will be constructed. It will provide 60 units of affordable housing for artists and their families, 10 artist-in-residence studios, event space, gallery space and about 16,000 square feet of commercial space.
"Providing the creative community in central Arkansas with a place to gather, live and work is essential to the growth of our culture as well as to our economy," says the Windgate Foundation's Robyn Horn, who also is overseeing grants for arts facilities on college campuses across the state.
Just down the street in East Village, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will build the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center. It will include a grand hall for rehearsals and concerts, multiple practice spaces, music classrooms, a streaming studio, climate-controlled instrument storage and additional flexible space.
Among Windgate's campus initiatives is the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The foundation made a matching gift of $20 million to build the facility, which will serve music, theater and visual arts students with classroom, studio, rehearsal and performance spaces.
The center covers more than 100,000 square feet. UCA President Houston Davis says: "There are going to be a lot of options for what we can do with our program in this beautiful building. Our program's trajectory is going to elevate tremendously."
That could be said for the entire state's trajectory. It's truly a new day in Arkansas.