WSU Museum of Art Receives Four Grants to Support its Mission

PULLMAN, Wash. – The Museum of Art at Washington State University announced the awarding of four grants in recognition and support of our upcoming exhibitions, publications and programming. These grants total $61,800 in support, and came from the following organizations: Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc. and the Washington State Arts Commission.

These grants represent an acknowledgement of the prestigious endeavors and exciting vision for the future the museum has displayed. Because the university provides no state funds for exhibitions, the museum relies on the generosity of individual donors and private foundations such as these to present extraordinary exhibitions and programming to the rural environment of the Palouse.

For the signature exhibition this fall, Art & Context: the 1950s and 60s, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation located in Seattle, Wash., presented the Museum of Art with a grant in the amount of $20,000 in support of the exhibition, publication and programming. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s mission is to “transform lives and strengthen communities by fostering innovation, creating knowledge and promoting social progress.”  This is the second grant the museum has received from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which supported the Jim Dine and Sculpture from the Walla Walla Foundry project in 2004.

WSU Provost and Executive Vice President Robert C. Bates said, “We are boundlessly grateful to the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation for their major support – it came at a key, early phase in the development of this project, which brings together great works of art viewed within the context of a period of dynamic change in American art and society. The exhibit and accompanying book are fitting representations of the Museum of Art’s ambition to make world-class examples of creativity and innovation accessible to our audiences and to celebrate Washington State University’s goal of nurturing interdisciplinary learning opportunities through the arts.”

For the February 2007 exhibition, Gaylen Hansen: Three Decades of Painting, the Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc. of New York has presented a matching grant in the amount of $25,000 in support of the exhibition. The exhibit will be concurrently presented at the Museum of Art/WSU and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, and then travel to the Seattle Art Museum in October 2007.

Museum of Art Director Chris Bruce said, “This award is truly unprecedented. To date, the Robert Lehman Foundation has primarily supported large art organizations in the Northeast such as the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and Dia. So, this represents a very special acknowledgement of the Museum of Art’s exhibitions, our ambitions to participate in the national art dialogue and the esteem held for the art of the Palouse’s own Gaylen Hansen. As a matching grant, it has stimulated further donations, which assure our ability to gather the very best of Hansen’s paintings from all over the country for the exhibition, and produce a book worthy of the high accomplishments of his art.”

Coming on the heels of this generous donation, the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation located in Albuquerque, N.M., has awarded the museum a grant in the amount of $10,000 to be used specifically for the Gaylen Hansen: Three Decades of Painting exhibition publication. This foundation “prefers one-time special projects that are originated by the applying organization.”  This is the first grant received by the Museum of Art from the Graham Foundation.

Additionally, the Washington State Arts Commission awarded the museum with a two-year Organizational Support Program Grant in the amount of $6,800 to be used at the museum’s discretion. The Washington State Arts Commission’s mission is to “cultivate a thriving environment for creative expression and appreciation for the arts for the benefit of all.” 

Visit the WSU Museum of Art Web site at: www.wsu.edu/artmuse

Gaylen Hansen, Horseman and Buffalo, 1976 .