It was the dismissal heard around the performing arts world when Timothée Chalamet said, in a February conversation with fellow-actor Matthew McConaughey, “I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though, like, no one cares about this anymore.’” Even if ticket sales soared at some venues after the ill-considered remark, Chalamet had certainly put his finger on a real problem, as generational tastes change and people tend to take their entertainment on their couch. Museums and performing arts organizations are both seeing declining ticket sales and increased challenges securing philanthropic dollars. But it so happened that two organizations were already thinking about how they could best support these organizations, and thinking that the accelerator model, common with startups, could be fruitfully applied. Related Articles Michael Govan Talks LACMA's New $720 M. Building in New Vanity Fair Interview Judy Baca Denies Allegations She Improperly Profited From $5 M. Grant for 'Great Wall' Expansion Now, think tank Remuseum, an initiative of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the Doris Duke Foundation, which makes grants in arts and culture (along with nature and health and well-being), have teamed up to give away as much as $1 million to up to ten museums and performing arts organizations, along with organizing a twelve-month accelerator-type residency for the innovative leaders of these organizations to hone their ideas and share resources. “I’ve been leading Remuseum for about three-and-a-half years,” Stephen Reily, formerly director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, told ARTnews in a video conversation. “We’ve been conducting research and convenings for leaders, trying to find new ways to address relevance, to determine how museums can matter to more people, and improve their financial stability and governance. What kept coming up is that there are leaders who want to try new things, but we found that there is a lot of risk aversion and fear holding them back—and this is even true for well-established institutions.” “My work has been grounded in a radical transformation, helping museums move from centering objects to centering their public,” continued Reily. “But there are lots of stakeholders who have a stong attachment to old missions. Looking at the level of challenges these institutions face, we need to accelerate that shift. What leaders tell me is when they have new ideas, but there’s no risk capital, and that there’s resistance from boards, or from internal stakeholders or from the public. Even the press can wag their fingers at leaders who appear to be challenging accepted norms.” The $100,000 grant will go to support ideas developed in the accelerator program, which starts with a week-long retreat at Shangri La, the Doris Duke Foundation’s “convening center” in Honolulu, Hawaii that is also home to its extensive collection of Islamic art. Thereafter comes a year of monthly coaching sessions, regional peer gatherings, and collaborative workshops, all culminating with public presentations by the institutions’ leaders to the broader arts community of their work and findings. Reily hopes, speaking for the museum field specifically, that some might be as innovative as New York’s Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, which is now “a collection with a mission, not limited to one space in Manhattan,” as he described it; or Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, who has been working to “get more of the collection out in front of people in new ways”; or Scott Rothkopf, director of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, who “raised money to transform the profile of the visitor in a very short period,” by making admission free for those under 25 and instituting free admission on Fridays and one Sunday a month. “Innovation is scary and innovators are often written off as heretics,” said Sam Gill, president and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation, in press materials. “Some of the most transformational ideas in the arts were deeply unpopular when they were first proposed. This award recognizes and supports leaders with the temerity to blaze new trails on behalf of the power of the arts to improve our lives and society.” In addition to Duke, the prize is funded by investor and philanthropist David Booth, the Alice L. Walton Foundation, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, the Arison Arts Foundation, Barbara & Amos Hostetter, the Hill Art Foundation, and the Jasteka Foundation. The award is available to leaders of U.S.-based nonprofit visual and performing arts organizations with annual operating budgets greater than $1 million. The selection process will begin with a five-week open call beginning on May 18, 2026, with winners announced in Fall 2026. Full guidelines and eligibility information can be found at remuseum.org/the-vanguard.
