A world-class collection of American art, stunning architecture, and 120 acres of Ozark forest with five miles of trails. Admission to the museum is always free.
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Museum & Buildings
Trails and Grounds open daily sunrise to sunset.
Songwriter, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning actor Mary Steenburgen; Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Qui Nguyen; and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Craig Renaud are making a special return to their Natural State home for Southern Storytellers: An Arkansas Storytelling Event, presented by Arkansas PBS and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art!
Join us for an exclusive preview screening of Southern Storytellers, a new three-episode docuseries from PBS, Arkansas PBS, and Craig Renaud.
The series follows some of the region’s most compelling and influential contemporary creators to the places they call home—the communities that fertilize the stories they tell in books, songs, poems, plays, and on screens large and small.
Following the screening, we’ll host a panel discussion with these notable Arkansans and Renaud in the museum’s Great Hall. This free event also features local storytellers sharing stories about their Arkansas homes and complimentary refreshments.
Free, tickets required. Reserve your spot online or by calling Guest Services at (479) 657-2335 today. Ticket includes admission and complimentary refreshments.
Southern Storytellers traverses the South, from the mountains of Appalachia to the Gulf of Mexico, revealing a vivid patchwork of diverse American stories that celebrate the resilience and joy of Southern people—and the magnitude of gifts from the region’s writers. Other featured creatives include some of the most recognized storytellers from the worlds of literature, music, television, and film, including authors Jesmyn Ward, Michael Twitty, Angie Thomas, and David Joy; poets Jericho Brown and Natasha Trethewey; songwriters Jason Isbell, Thao Nguyen, Lyle Lovett, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, Adia Victoria, and Amanda Shires; and screenwriter Michael Waldron.
The documentary series airs weekly on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on PBS from July 18 until Aug. 1, and can be seen via livestream and on demand on PBS.org and the PBS App.
Originally from south Arkansas, Qui Nguyen is a Vietnamese American filmmaker, playwright, and co-founder of the New York-based theatre company Vampire Cowboys. Notable works include his plays Vietgone and Poor Yella Rednecks, which centered on his parent’s love story; She Kills Monsters, which continues to be one of the most-produced plays in colleges and high schools across America; and the Disney films Strange World and Oscar-nominated Raya and the Last Dragon.
Mary Steenburgen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor best known for her work in the films Melvin and Howard, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Stepbrothers, and Book Club; and television shows Justified, Orange is the New Black, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Last Man on Earth. She is also a songwriter for Universal Music Publishing Group and was recently shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for a song she co-wrote, “Glasgow (No Place Like Home),” featured in the film Wild Rose. “Glasgow” received the Critics’ Choice Award and the Hollywood Critics Association Award for Best Original Song.
Craig Renaud is known for character-driven, cinema verité approach to documentary filmmaking. His work has aired on PBS, HBO, NBC, The Discovery Channel, The New York Times, ESPN and VICE. Renaud has won a Peabody Award, two Columbia DuPont Awards, two Overseas Press Club Awards, an IDA Award, a Webby, an Edward R Murrow Award, an Emmy Award, and has received a DGA nomination and multiple Emmy nominations.
Courtney Pledger currently serves as CEO of statewide public broadcaster Arkansas PBS. Prior to entering public media, Pledger worked as a producer and senior film and television executive in Los Angeles and London, where she shepherded or produced multiple award-winning projects. She served as executive director of Oscar-qualifying Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and is a recipient of the Women in Film Lillian Gish Producing Award.
Renaud Brothers Films is led by Craig Renaud, best known for his character-driven, cinema verité documentaries such as Dope Sick Love, Last Chance High, Off to War, and Meth Storm. In 2018, Renaud Brothers Films produced State of the Art for PBS. Renaud’s work has often been in partnership with his brother Brent Renaud, who died in 2022 while documenting the refugee crisis in the Ukraine, the first American journalist killed in that conflict. The Renaud Brothers’ work has won a Peabody Award, two du-Pont-Columbia Awards, two Overseas Press Club Awards, an IDA Documentary Award, a Webby Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award.
Major Funding for Southern Storytellers was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding was provided by the Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, Inc., and Moses Tucker Partnership.
