Award for US Arts Leaders Offers $100,000 to Challenge ‘Risk Averse’ Culture

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A new annual prize will offer $100,000 USD (£74,000) to the leaders of up to 10 non-profit US arts institutions in a bid to support innovative ideas and challenge the industry’s “risk averse” culture. 

The award, titled The Vanguard and announced today by think tank Remuseum and the Doris Duke Foundation, is intended to encourage solutions-focused leadership at a time when American visual and performing arts spaces face both financial and cultural challenges.

Stephen Reily, founding director of Remuseum, told Ocula that too many arts leaders currently operate “with a lack of risk capital”, making it hard to try out new ideas.

He said: “Legacy systems and professional norms in the arts have added a lot of value, but they have also created costs in terms of both dollars and relevance. 

“Trustees, funders, colleagues and others often know the field needs new ideas, but resist when those ideas seem to impact their own attachments to the status quo.”

According to data published by Remuseum in 2024, nearly 60 percent of American art museums—identified via the Association of Art Museum Directors—now define their mission as public-centred, while another 30 percent define their mission as a balance between the public and their collection. Objects, which were once the primary focus of many museums, are now only key to the missions of 11 percent of organisations. 

However, despite this shift, Remuseum has found that arts leaders whose ideas centre around bringing their work to more people are often reluctant or unable to implement their plans in cultures where caution and fear may guide both internal and external stakeholders.

“Innovation is scary and innovators are often written off as heretics,” said Sam Gill, president and chief executive of the Doris Duke Foundation.

“Some of the most transformational ideas in the arts were deeply unpopular when they were first proposed. This award recognises and supports leaders with the temerity to blaze new trails on behalf of the power of the arts to improve our lives and society.”

The $100,000 USD grant is open to leaders or arts organisations with annual operating budgets greater than $1 million USD, which includes both The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art, among many others. The sum will be made available to each winner’s institution to support ideas developed throughout The Vanguard’s accelerator programme.

This year-long programme will include monthly coaching sessions, regional peer gatherings and collaborative workshops, culminating in a public presentation of its work and findings to the broader arts community. 

Reily told Ocula: “Like other accelerators, The Vanguard offers risk capital that we hope will unlock further investment from others, and it starts with an award to provide recognition for leaders willing to take informed, mission-based risks with new ideas for engaging the public with art.

“We hope it will show their boards, colleagues, the public and the press that their institution has a leader worth supporting.”