Henry Luce Foundation Bestows Grant

Henry Luce Foundation Bestows Grant
American Art Renewal Grant to help fund American Art Collection

Milwaukee, Wis. – The Henry Luce Foundation has awarded the Milwaukee Art Museum a $165,000 grant through the American Art Renewal Fund that will help support a curatorial position in American art at the Museum, as well as the reinstallation of the American art collection. The Museum is one of fifteen museums nationwide to receive a grant in the first round of this limited initiative.
“We are thrilled at the support from the Henry Luce Foundation and look forward to the development of our American art collection here at the Milwaukee Art Museum,” said Dan Keegan, the Museum’s director. “Our already extensive collection of world-renowned American decorative and folk arts will be profoundly enhanced by this new opportunity. We will now be able to fully realize the reinstallation of our impressive American collection.”

The Museum’s American art collection includes paintings, works on paper, sculpture, decorative arts, self-taught and folk art, and numbers in the thousands of objects. The collection includes pieces from pre-colonial America through today.

Following the recent economic downturn, the Henry Luce Foundation developed the American Art Renewal Fund to respond to the current need to strengthen American art activities at the nation’s museums. This short-term initiative, offered through the American Art Program, provides support for operating expenses related to American art. Thus, it is a departure from the traditional focus on research and scholarship and is in effect only through 2011.

In addition to this new initiative, the Foundation has also provided more than $130 million in support for scholarly studies and awareness of American art at some 250 organizations across the country.

“The Henry Luce Foundation is committed to providing an effective effort to not only raise awareness, but also provide a solid foundation for American art across the nation,” said Ellen Holtzman, program director for American Art at the Henry Luce Foundation. “It is our firm belief that this grant will spur even greater development of American art at the Milwaukee Art Museum and appreciation from visitors for years to come.”

ABOUT THE HENRY LUCE FOUNDATION
The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., to honor his parents who were missionary educators in China. The Foundation builds upon the vision and values of four generations of the Luce family: broadening knowledge and encouraging the highest standards of service and leadership. The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 20,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.

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