Alice Walton

Alice Walton is committed to increasing access to arts, improving education, enhancing health and advancing economic opportunity for all. In all of her philanthropic work, Walton is dedicated to promoting diversity and equitable access.

Walton’s interest in art began in her childhood. She and her mother often painted on family camping trips or on hikes in the Ozarks. As an adult, she began to collect watercolors, and over time, that grew into a broader interest in art history and all types of American art. Today, Walton “has emerged as one of America’s most important arts philanthropists in areas like arts education, boosting Americans’ exposure to world-class art and building a pipeline for diverse leaders in the field,” according to Inside Philanthropy.

Walton’s transformative experiences in the arts led to an interest in wellness and how art, nature and the spaces around us shape and improve our lives. Through numerous projects, she is committed to making a whole-person approach to health care a more accessible option across the country.

Walton’s vision and philanthropic leadership has prompted numerous accolades. She is a recipient of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art Medal, the John Cotton Dana Medal for Visionary Leadership in Museums, the Leonore and Walter Annenberg Award for Diplomacy through the Arts and the Getty Medal for contributions to the Arts and Humanities. She was recognized by TIME magazine in 2012 as one of the most influential people in the world and was inducted into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame in 2018.

Walton is currently on the advisory council for the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. She has served as a member of the board of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, the Trustees’ Council of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and was the inaugural chairperson for the Northwest Arkansas Council. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity University and an honorary Doctor of Arts and Humane Letters from the University of Arkansas.