In closing, I want to express my most heartfelt gratitude to the Global Advisory Committee members, who helped us transform our institutional practice and guide our thinking regarding the addition of significant works to our permanent collection from China, India, Korea, Brazil, and South Africa. I will never be able to give proper thanks for their willingness to trust us with ideas and principles that are precious, for defying jet lag and Minnesota winters, for never faltering in their commitment to the Walker Art Center, and for never failing to remind us where the world is. The remarkable thing about the process was that colleagues became friends, debates became passionate arguments, and the world grew simultaneously larger and smaller. We all are changed, and I hope our audiences will experience these changes as well. We hope our conversations across continents and disciplines, as well as the programs and publications that grow out of them, will continue to benefit the Walker, its many different audiences, and the field.

The Bush Foundation’s extraordinary and visionary investment in the Walker’s Global Initiative, coupled with our partnership with the Global Advisory Committee, provided us with the critical perspective, time, and resources to learn to swim in new waters, recognizing that all these oceans ultimately flow together. The journey continues and we are grateful for the interest exhibited by all our fellow travelers—artists, audiences, scholars, and partners—near and far. Even from our location in the middle of this country, we participate in the dramas, disasters, and dilemmas that shape the world we all share and the art that is created out of those experiences. Thanks to the Bush Foundation, this initiative has helped us to become better-informed citizens and practitioners, for which we are profoundly grateful.

Kathy Halbreich, Director, Walker Art Center