By BEX Staff for AZBEX
Along with the announcement of a $20M private donation, The Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg has also announced a name change and a major expansion.
Wickenburg couple Carey and Jack Sigler have donated $20M to the facility, which has now been renamed the Sigler Western Museum.
The Sigler gift will be combined with $9.25M in donations raised from several sources, and the facility will soon break ground on a new museum and pavilion across the street from its current location, according to a recent announcement on the group website.
“The new $30M facility will span 27.1KSF, with gallery spaces, an indoor pavilion, and an outdoor courtyard, adding to the Museum’s 25.6KSF existing main building and the existing 4.674KSF Cultural Crossroads Learning Center,” the page says.
The donations from the Siglers and others are part of the New Frontier Capital Campaign, which the museum launched three years ago to fund its expansion.
Known for promoting Western women artists, the museum has earned multiple awards and launched or accelerated the careers of more than 200 female artists under its “Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West” annual exhibition and art sale.
The new facility will be designed by Studio Ma. The firm designed the Museum of the West in Scottsdale and planned renovations and additions at Phoenix Art Museum and Heard Museum.
The general contractor is Okland Construction, which has also delivered several cultural and community-focused projects in the region.
The announcement says, “Studio Ma is designing the new building to fit into the larger campus of the existing main building and the existing Cultural Crossroads Learning Center, a multipurpose space, and to align with the Sigler Western Museum’s overall masterplan for the next 50 years.”
The new complex will allow for expansion of the Cowgirl Up! exhibition and include a catering kitchen, advanced audio/visual capability and other new technological components, the announcement said. The outdoor courtyard will have a bronze and steel sculpture garden and will add to the event space.
The current building will be maintained and will feature historical exhibits and Western artifacts.
“Building this new art complex is more than just brick and mortar. It is building a legacy that will honor the spirit, history and creativity of the West for future generations,” said Becky Rovey, the Museum Capital Campaign Chair.
