NY Times interviews the new director of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

Mr. [Don] Bacigalupi (pronounced BAH-chee-ga-loop-ee) said his decision to leave an established museum for a new and untested one was motivated partly by the seriousness of Ms. Walton’s intentions. “She is one of these enlightened patrons,” he said. “She’s an heiress who could obviously do anything she wanted with her resources.”

“This is a not a vanity project,” he added, “and it’s not just a personal collection that’s going to be opened to the public.”

John Wilmerding, an art historian on the museum’s board, said he viewed the appointment of a respected museum executive like Mr. Bacigalupi “as a coming-of-age moment for Crystal Bridges.”

“It’s an opportunity for it to be perceived not as a curiosity in the hinterlands,” he said, “but as a major American art museum.”

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