George Lucas Taps Crystal Bridges Head to Run Chicago Museum

Don Bacigalupi, who oversaw the 2011 opening of Walmart heir Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, has been hired to lead the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art planned in Chicago by Star Wars creator George Lucas, writes The Chicago Tribune. Mr. Bacigalupi will begin his new job on January 15 but will remain a member of the board at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Ark., which he joined as executive director in 2009.

Mr. Bacigalupi previously led art museums in Toledo, Ohio, and San Diego. “Don’s decades of experience include a proven track record for building a museum from inception,” Mr. Lucas said in a statement. The billionaire movie mogul has pledged $700-million to construct and endow his museum, controversially slated to occupy a site on the Lake Michigan waterfront.