Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, CBMAA welcomed 704,257 guests and presented several collection focus shows, and three major exhibitions, including: Exquisite Creatures, Space Makers: Indigenous Expression and a New American Art, Time Loop by Klip Collective: A Forest Light Experience, Knowing the West: Visual Legacies of the American West, and American Sunrise: Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges. Exquisite Creatures was an exhibition by artist and naturalist Christopher Marley that explored the connection between art, nature, and science. Through three-dimensional works made of animal, mineral, and plant specimens arranged in precise geometric patterns, Marley revealed the beauty and diversity of the natural world while inspiring wonder and a desire for preservation. Space Makers: Indigenous Expression and a New American Art examined the mid-century Indian Space Painters, the Indigenous visual culture that inspired them, and modern Native artists who built on these explorations through their own heritage. The exhibition reconfigured the history of American art by showing its foundations in Indigenous space, aesthetically, geographically, and socio-politically. The exhibition toured to one additional museum. Time Loop by Klip Collective: A Forest Light Experience transformed CBMAA's North Forest into an immersive journey through light, sound, and projection mapping by Klip Collective. Featuring six site-responsive installations, the experience brought the rhythms of the Earth to life, fractured visitors across a broken time machine, and illuminated the forest in dazzling ways. Knowing the West: Visual Legacies of the American West was the first major traveling exhibition to explore how people see the American West, aiming to tell a more inclusive story that highlights the diverse groups who shaped its art and life. Moving beyond stereotypes, it showcased overlooked perspectives, including those of Native American artists and women, revealing stories of persistence, innovation, adaptability, and resistance that continue to define the West. The exhibition is currently on tour at two additional museums. American Sunrise: Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges showcased the beauty and intricacy of the museum's growing Indigenous art collection, including new acquisitions. Organized around the themes of Indigenous Futurism, Place, and Kinship, the exhibition celebrated connections to the land, intergenerational expression, and resilience across communities. Inspired by Joy Harjo's 2019 poetry collection American Sunrise, it featured basketry, beadwork, paintings, photography, and pottery by more than 30 artists from the United States and Canada, spanning 150 years of creativity.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 70.6%; rating input score 71
• Program expense ratio: 39%; rating input score 39
• Fundraising efficiency: $11.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
• Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 26.7%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 21.38; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 2.3%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings