The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville announced Wednesday a new School of Art, the first and only in Arkansas, funded by a $120 million donation from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

The donation is the largest sum gifted to an American university to support or establish an art school, according to a news release.

The institution will be made as a "model for inclusion and diversity,” said former U.S. Sen. Kaneaster Hodges Jr., president of the foundation. “It will be built with elements from the top schools and institutes across the country.”

The school will emphasize American art and art of the Americas, the release said, complementary to the aim of the nearby Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

It will "shape a new generation of artists, historians, designers and teachers with a unique understanding of the hope art can bring to communities,” Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges founder and chairwoman of its board, said in a statement.

“The unparalleled access to meaningful American art will connect the heartland to the world,” she continued.

Walton went on to describe, in a statement from her family’s foundation, her own love of art, born from childhood. She recounted painting watercolor landscapes with her mother and said that “art spirit” has been a guiding force "in finance, in business, in philanthropy. And, especially, in art itself.”

Plus, Walton said, students will have “up-close interaction” with Crystal Bridge’s collection, spawning scholarship and a “unique curriculum.”

Todd Shields, dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, said the new school differs from existing Fine Arts schools and departments in Arkansas because Fine Arts Schools tend to focus on liberal art “very broadly” and can encompass topics like art as well as music, humanities, history and journalism.

With the new school, the University of Arkansas is “focusing here specifically on art because this region really has become known as an epicenter” of the craft, Shields said.

The newly established school will be housed in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The $120 million will be used to offer financial support for students, promote a partnership with Crystal Bridges and expand graduate programs and degrees in art history, education and graphic design, the release said.

Money will also be used to support the Fine Arts Library and renovate the Fine Arts Center.

Implementing the new school will happen over a five-year period, with the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, the state Department of Higher Education and the state Higher Education Coordinating Board all involved.

“This amazing gift will allow us to recruit and retain students from Arkansas and beyond, giving unbridled opportunities for Arkansans to choose art as a career path,” Jeannie Hulen, chairwoman of the former Department of Art and associate professor of ceramics, said in the release.

“We’ll also be able to seek out the best faculty to provide the necessary and ongoing support to teach, learn, create, and expand our outreach from beyond the classroom and into our community.”

Shields said the school hopes to double the enrollment of the existing art department. Some potential new classes include how to use art to help K-12 students, how art can help patients understand their bodies and a course on the business of art, Shields said.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.