“The basic idea behind America’s Cultural Treasures is to take organizations that are excellent, that have a track record of excellence, and capitalize them in a meaningful way.” “The bottom line is that wealth has been inequitably distributed in the U.S., and that can affect what kinds of individual fundraising campaigns organizations are able to execute,” said Kate Levin, who oversees the Bloomberg Philanthropies arts program, and served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs from 2002 to 2013. Recipients of a second component of the grant-giving initiative, this one with a regional focus, will be announced in 2021. Walton Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, arts patrons Tom and Lisa Blumenthal, and philanthropists Barbara and Amos Hostetter. Other grant recipients include the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage El Museo del Barrio and the Studio Museum in Harlem the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San Juan the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.įunding for the national grants was drawn from the Ford Foundation, the Abrams Foundation, the Alice L. (A survey conducted by the American Alliance of Museums this past June held the grim projection that one-third of American museums could shut down entirely due to the financial hardship they’ve endured in the crisis.) The grants are geared toward arts organizations “led by and serving communities of color that have historically been underfunded,” according to the Ford Foundation’s website. The establishment of America’s Cultural Treasures was precipitated, in part, by the coronavirus lockdown, which has left many art institutions around the country and throughout the world financially bereft and vulnerable to permanent closure. The Museum of Chinese in America inaugurated its new Collections and Research Center, which houses the MOCA Workshop, last fall. “You come from a place where you’re not sure if you matter-and then you’re one of 20 that matter.” “I don’t think I ever was so emotional in a professional space before, but I’m also not even sure if, on a personal level, I’ve ever had that experience,” she said. That’s why, when Maasbach received a call last fall that MOCA would be awarded a $3.1 million grant as part of the Ford Foundation’s America’s Cultural Treasures initiative-$81 million split among 20 institutions across the U.S.-she was brought to tears. “MOCA has had such a hard time sustaining itself,” she said, acknowledging the “reality of being a small culture museum with a big mission.” Like many leaders of such institutions, she spent much of her time on grant applications-but, she said, was “constantly and consistently denied funding.” With no savings or endowment, she wasn’t sure how it would weather the one-two punch of fire and pandemic. Maasbach describes her role leading the museum as “the toughest job I’ve ever had.” Subtracting from that hundreds of thousands of dollars in New York rent, that leaves little room for experimentation or expansion in the best of times. Today, its annual budget is $2.8 million. The museum’s mission is to instill in visitors a deeper understanding of Chinese American history and culture through exhibitions as well as research and educational initiatives. hoto Bebeto Matthews/Courtesy Associated Pressįounded in 1980 as the New York Chinatown History Project by historian John Kuo Wei Tchen and community activist Charles Lai, MOCA has spent much of its four decades struggling to survive. The New York City Fire Department at 70 Mulberry Street following the fire. But then came bad news: the coronavirus lockdown. In March, they completed the six-week-long retrieval process and discovered, to Maasbach’s relief, that 95 percent of the holdings had survived, despite some water damage. “You need to just take care of your child.” But their first priority, according to Maasbach, was to retrieve the thousands of objects from the building and assess the damage. The staff of 13 full-time workers now found themselves immersed in an ongoing process related to the restoration and conservation of a 129-year-old building owned by the city and beloved by the local community. In the days that followed, Maasbach said there were so many offers of help that they had to set up a separate email account for them. The museum has many passionate supporters, and gained more as news of the fire spread. “It’s 40 years of history, 40 years of collecting and-oh my goodness-it’s going up in flames in a five-alarm fire.” “We just tried to process it and think clearly about what we needed to do-it was really hard,” said Nancy Yao Maasbach, who has served as president of MOCA since 2015. Ford, Mellon Foundations Name 2022 Winners of $50,000 Latinx Artist Fellowships, Including Amalia Mesa-Bains, Las Nietas de Nonó
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