BENTONVILLE — Last week, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announced changes in the top management to support strategic plans to carry the museum forward.

On Tuesday, newly appointed Executive Director Rob Bigelow talked about the initiatives in broad terms, aimed at providing a rewarding and enlightening cultural experience for new visitors, returning patrons and employees.

The museum’s 150 employees met at the departmental, division and then organization levels August through December to provide information and opinions about the museum’s operations. The meetings and feedback culminated in a 30-40-page document focusing on access, communication, long-term plans for care of the museum’s collection and defining the organization’s culture.

“We took all that information ... and actually published it for everyone to comment on,” Bigelow said. “So [employees] had an opportunity individually to have a dialogue about what they thought was obvious, what they challenged in the institution ... ”

Guests can expect to see new art inside and outside the museum and an expanded online presence, including publishing the Crystal Bridges’ collection on the Internet.

Outside, three large-scale sculptures will be added on the museum grounds. The first of which, a 16-foot tall sculpture by Luis Alfonso Jimenez titled Vaquero, is expected to be on display on the museum’s south lawn by March 3. The piece, created by Jimenez in 1987-88, is a polychrome fiberglass ode to Mexican-American cowboy culture. Crystal Bridges acquired the work before its November 2011 opening.

“We’re doing that in an effort to continue to engage [visitors] in the trails and grounds,” Bigelow said.

Another objective is to double the number of programs offered in the museum’s inaugural year. Members of the curatorial and education teams will be out in the community offering lectures and programs in Fayetteville, Springdale and other Northwest Arkansas communities.

“We’re really trying to make sure were connecting with the community in a strong way,” Bigelow said.The museum does not aim at increasing attendance in its second full year, but to maintain its 2012 numbers, a range of 450,000 to 550,000 visitors.

“It’s really about attracting those people who haven’t been [to the museum] but also getting people to come back, to deepen their engagement with the museum or their engagement with the collection or education programming,” he said.

Bigelow, the museum’s deputy director of operations and administrations since 2010, picked up additional duties as executive director from Don Bacigalupi, who became the museum’s president and board member last week. He’s now charged with advancing Crystal Bridges’ national and global initiatives.

Bacigalupi was Bigelow’s boss at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio for six years.

Bacigalupi left Toledo to come to Crystal Bridges in 2009 and to prepare it for opening in November 2011. Bigelow served as chief operating officer and interim executive director after Bacigalupi left the Toledo museum. Before that, he served as chief financial officer and interim executive director at the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington.

This is his first shot as executive director outright.

“It’s an amazing opportunity,” he said Tuesday. “Of course there’s lots of pressure, but it’s something that I’ve been working toward a long time.

“The great part is, as Don [Bacigalupi] remaining president, he’ll continue to mentor me, and it’s an exciting time for all of us at the museum.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 02/20/2013