Remuseum and Doris Duke Foundation Launch $1 Million Arts Accelerator for Museums and Performing Arts Leaders
A new grant program is asking a familiar question in a different register: what if museums and performing arts organizations were given the same kind of structured runway that startup founders receive? Remuseum, an initiative of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the Doris Duke Foundation, is offering up to $1 million in grants to as many as ten U.S. nonprofit visual and performing arts organizations.
The program is open to leaders of organizations with annual operating budgets above $1 million. Each selected institution will enter a twelve-month accelerator-style residency designed to help test new ideas, strengthen governance, and address the financial pressures facing the field. The residency begins with a week-long retreat at Shangri La, the Doris Duke Foundation’s convening center in Honolulu, Hawaii, which also houses its collection of Islamic art.
From there, participants will move through monthly coaching sessions, regional peer gatherings, and collaborative workshops. The process will culminate in public presentations to the broader arts community, giving leaders a chance to share both their proposals and the lessons learned along the way.
The selection process opens with a five-week open call on May 18, 2026, and winners are expected to be announced in Fall 2026. Funding partners include 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.
Stephen Reily, who leads Remuseum and previously directed the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, has spent years studying how museums can become more relevant and financially stable. His view is that many leaders have ideas worth testing, but face resistance from boards, staff, and the public, along with a shortage of risk capital.
That concern is echoed by Sam Gill, who said the award is meant to support innovators pursuing transformational change in the arts. The initiative arrives at a moment when museums and performing arts organizations are confronting declining ticket sales, shifting audience habits, and persistent pressure on philanthropic support. In that context, the program is less a symbolic gesture than an attempt to create room for experimentation inside institutions that are often expected to preserve tradition while adapting to a changing public.
