Walmart Heiress Alice Walton Has Pledged $40M to U.S. Museums
October 12, 2023 | In the PressFrom Observer (https://observer.com/2023/10/walmart-heiress-alice-walton-has-pledged-40m-to-u-s-museums/)
Alice Walton, heiress to the Walmart fortune, is known for using her vast net worth to scoop up eight-figure works of art. But her latest investment in the art world will be directed at museums, as her nonprofit announced yesterday (October 11) that it will provide $40 million in funding to more than sixty art institutions across the U.S.
The grants from the Art Bridges Foundation, founded by Walton in 2017, mark the launch of “Access for All,” a new initiative to make arts institutions more accessible through the expansion of free admission. “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are confident Access for All will not only help to rebuild museum attendance but also bring more people than ever into museum galleries and reshape the arts world as one that is open to all,” said Walton in a statement.
Only one-third of U.S. museums have been able to achieve pre-pandemic attendance levels, according to a 2023 report from the American Alliance of Museums, with remaining institutions averaging 71 percent of pre-COVID figures. Still-recovering attendance has been cited as a factor for recent admission hikes at museums like the Whitney Museum of American Art, which alongside several other New York art institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim and MoMA, recently raised adult admission.
The Whitney is among the grant recipients of the Art Bridges Foundation’s new project, which will also benefit museums like the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, the Wichita Art Museum and the St. Louis Art Museum, the latter of which will receive $1.65 million. Ranging from $56,000 to $2 million, Walton’s gifts will be given out over three years.
Of the sixty-four grantees, 80 percent have annual operating expenses under $10 million, according to the foundation. In addition to aiding the expansion or creation of free admission programs, grant recipients can put the funds toward programs like accessible transportation, interpreters and free community meals.
Other programs launched by Walton’s foundation have included exhibition loan support and the development of regional exhibition partnerships. Last summer, it partnered with museums like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum to offer nearly 170 artworks for long-term loan, with preparation and shipping costs covered by the foundation.
Who is Alice Walton?
Walton, 77, has long been an influential figure in the art world. The daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, she is currently the world’s second-richest woman with an estimated net worth of $64.7 billion. An avid art collector, her acquisitions have been known to set records. In 2014, she purchased Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 for $44.4 million, making it the most expensive work of art painted by a woman. In 2019, she reportedly acquired Robert Rauschenberg’s silkscreen Buffalo II for $88.8 million, setting an auction record for the artist. Walton’s collection additionally includes seminal pieces like Charles Willson Peale’s portrait of George Washington, Andy Warhol’s iconic Coca-Cola bottle and John Singer Sargent’s painting of Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife.
Much of her collection is on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a museum Walton founded in 2011 in her hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. Over the past twelve years, the institution has maintained a free admission policy courtesy of donations from both Walmart and the company’s non-profit foundation.
“Art shouldn’t just be for people in big cities,” Walton told Observer in 2015, detailing her plans to eventually expand the museum’s mission of accessible artwork across the country. “What I care about is access to the arts for all people of all economic and ethnic backgrounds.”
