BENTONVILLE, Ark., Dec. 11, 2019 – The Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program is continuing to enhance public green spaces in the region by supporting a new collaborative playscape at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and a new urban park near Southwest 8th and I streets.
“The Design Excellence Program is transforming how we use, experience and interact with public buildings and spaces,” said Karen Minkel, Home Region Program director for the Walton Family Foundation. “These parks will build on the success of the program’s already completed projects by reimagining the possibilities of the region’s green spaces.”
This year, the Design Excellence Program will provide a grant for Convergence, a collaborative playscape between Crystal Bridges and the Scott Family Amazeum. Once completed, the outdoor space between the two museums will be one cohesive environment of learning and play for visitors of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
The foundation will also provide a grant to the City of Bentonville to support the recently announced destination park on nearly 100 acres at Southwest 8th and I streets. Its design will align with Play Bentonville 2025, the master plan that highlighted the need for additional passive recreation spaces, public gathering areas, green spaces and trails to the west of Walton boulevard, where the City reports 58% of residents currently live.
Both projects are part of the foundation’s ongoing efforts to expand access to outdoor offerings in Northwest Arkansas. According to the foundation’s latest Quality of Life Survey, parks are currently the most-used amenities in the region, with 81% of residents reporting accessing a park in the last 12 months.
The Design Excellence Program was created in 2015 to promote the highest level of design in the development of future public buildings and spaces in Benton and Washington counties. It selects projects based on four key principles: a commitment to strengthening public life; elevating standards of sustainability and resilience; celebrating local cultures and place; and building regional capacity.
With the addition of the parks, the program is now supporting 13 projects across the region’s five largest cities. To date, it has helped municipalities and local nonprofits complete the Helen Walton Children’s Enrichment Center in Bentonville, Memorial Park in Siloam Springs, Rogers Historical Museum, Thaden School’s campus in Bentonville and TheatreSquared in Fayetteville. For a full review of the program’s current projects, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org/design.
About the Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses, work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. In 2018, the foundation awarded more than $595 million in grants in support of these initiatives. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.