Art Bridges Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Walmart heiress and philanthropist Alice Walton, has announced the launch of a new initiative aimed at increasing access to museums across the U.S., including a handful of Texas institutions.
Alice Walton at Crystal Bridges. Image courtesy of Art Bridges Foundation.
Established in 2017, Art Bridges has supported museums across the country through an array of initiatives. According to the organization’s website, its objectives are to expand access to American art, energize the field of American art, and support, inspire, and connect institutions through programming, loans of artworks, the sharing of exhibitions, etc. Earlier this year, as part of a different granting program, four Texas museums received funds from Art Bridges to embark on a multi-year partnership, in which exhibitions that debut at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth will travel to the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, the Amarillo Museum of Art, and the Ellen Noël Art Museum in Odessa.
Access for All, Art Bridges’ newly announced initiative, is a three-year funding program that will invest $40 million in 64 museums across the U.S. that are currently partnered with the foundation. Participating museums will host a monthly free admission “Access for All Day,” sponsored by the foundation. Institutions that are already free will have the opportunity to use their funding in other ways that support the “Access for All Day,” including programming, marketing, and outreach.
The Texas museums that have been awarded funds include the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Art Museum of South Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the San Antonio Museum of Art. Funded programming will begin across the partner organizations in January 2024. See the full list of participating institutions at the Art Bridges website.
