The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) is awarded a $350,000 grant from the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as they announce their support for smaller museums around the country.
With the financial state of US museums in peril amid the ever-changing global pandemic, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced the Art Museum Futures Fund, distributing additional emergency COVID-19 grants to provide much-needed support to small arts and cultural institutions across the US. The Art Museum Futures Fund’s second round of grants were distributed to 14 small-sized arts museums with strong and long-standing commitments to the local community and social justice. Grants will be used to support general operations.
“America’s small-sized arts and culture institutions sustain their communities by providing access to transformative and wide-ranging artistic contributions while also preserving many different histories and cultural legacies,” said Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation. “As the pandemic continues to threaten the future viability of museums that have long been under resourced, we must do our part to strengthen support for these organizations and the trenchant work they tirelessly undertake to enrich and expand our American story.”
COVID-19 has continued to surge across the US, art museums are losing millions of dollars in revenue, leaving about one-third of all institutions at risk of permanent closures, according to a recent survey by the American Alliance of Museums. Smaller institutions are far less able to rely on endowments to survive the financial burden of the COVID-19 crisis. Like many of these museums the KIA experienced significant levels of disruption to local charitable giving. This grant helps replace some of the vital revenue support that our local community was unable to provide during Covid-19.
“We are honored to have the Andrew W. Mellon foundation affirm our education initiatives and support our commitment to engaging audiences in our region” says Belinda Tate, KIA Executive Director. “This support helps to underscore the re-envisioning of our permanent collection while embracing the broadest audiences possible.”
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there.
The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) is a museum, fine arts library, and art school in Kalamazoo, Michigan serving over 100,000 visitors annually pre-pandemic. As a leading art organization in our region, we believe that an exceptional creative practice can transform a community.