Major announcement.
UT Dallas acquires Crow Museum of Asian Art, advancing its place in the region’s arts scene
https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/museums ... -asian-artThe University of Texas at Dallas unveiled this week yet another example of how it's becoming a power broker, not to mention a major player in the region's art scene.
In an announcement shared first with The Dallas Morning News, UTD is acquiring the Crow Museum of Asian Art, giving it a presence in the Dallas Arts District.
But that's not all. The Crow Collection, begun by the late Trammell and Margaret Crow in the 1960s and expanded as a downtown museum in 1998, will donate its entire holdings to UTD in addition to supplying $23 million in funding for a Crow museum on the school's Richardson campus.
The Arts District location will remain, but a second museum will be built on the campus of UTD (along with a museum for the recently-acquired Barrett Collection).
Wildenthal said at least $20 million of the $23 million being given by the Crow Collection is designated for the UTD branch of the Crow, while a separate fund-raising effort seeks $20 million more for the Barrett museum. He envisions both as part of "an Athenaeum complex" expected to open in less than five years.
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"It will still be one museum, but with two locations. We will be aligning ourselves with the resources of the campus, to have programs generated through professors, fellows and international partnerships."
Hofland said the Crow museum was attracted to UTD because of "what it's done in the last 25 years and where we see the university headed."
Plus, it gives the collection the chance to widen its Asian audience, many of whom had complained about the difficulties in going downtown. The idea that the region "needed an art museum north of Interstate 635 was," Hofland said, "incredibly appealing."