BENTONVILLE, ARK.- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces the appointment of Lieven Bertels as director of an innovative arts venue under development in downtown Bentonville. The venue, newly named the MomentaryTM is an adaptive reuse project that will transform a decommissioned Kraft Foods plant south of Crystal Bridges into a multi-disciplinary space for visual and performing arts and an artist-in-residency program.
Bertels will join the Crystal Bridges leadership team in late September as director, after an international search guided by Arts Consulting Group. Bertels will be responsible for all activities related to the Momentary, including planning and development for the facility as well as artistic direction and day-to-day operations. Prior to joining the Momentary, Bertels was the CEO and cultural director of Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2018 European Capital of Culture, a year-long festival in the Netherlands focusing on the arts in a rural context. From 2011 to 2016, he was the festival director for Sydney Festival in Australia. Under his stewardship, Sydney Festival garnered acclaim for its diverse artistic offerings and enjoyed wide public support. From 2010 to 2016 he served on the board of directors of the International Society for the Performing Arts in New York, and in 2013 was made Knight in the Belgian Order of the Crown. From 2004 to 2011, Bertels served as artistic coordinator at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, The Netherlands' oldest and largest arts festival. From 2001 to 2004, Bertels held the position of inaugural artistic director for Concertgebouw in Bruges, Belgium, where he was responsible for overseeing the planning, grand opening and programming for the first three years of the new campus.
“We are thrilled to welcome Lieven to Northwest Arkansas,” said Rod Bigelow, Crystal Bridges Executive Director & Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. “Along with international arts experience and a history of successful leadership, he brings a strong background in performance art and fresh ideas about ways to expand the cultural impact of the arts in our region and beyond. His work in Leeuwarden, at Sydney Festival and in Bruges demonstrate his ability to advance projects that are culturally transformative.”
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to connect the Momentary to the mission and welcoming spirit of Crystal Bridges, while exploring its own unique identity and role,” said Bertels. “The Momentary is poised to be an international destination that demonstrates how contemporary American art and artists intersect with daily life around the globe. The Momentary will push boundaries of creativity, blur urban and rural lines, and provide access to arts-based experiences in a comfortable and well-designed social space. This is a truly exciting project not just for the region but for arts communities at large.”
The arts venue was named the Momentary as the result of fieldwork and research conducted by FÖDA, a brand consultancy and design studio based in Austin, Texas. "Dismantle the word ‘contemporary’ to its Latin roots and you get with or thoroughly and lasting or serving for a time only. The word momentary speaks to that same fleeting quality found in music, in performance, food, exhibitions, etc.,” said Jett Butler, creative director of FÖDA. “It’s a word that is ephemeral enough to grow into—to evolve with the art and the programming—and yet The Momentary is resonant, it signals confidence in an atypical art program."
