Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, today expressed deep gratitude to philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott on behalf of the institution’s Board of Trustees, staff, and community for providing the Museum with an extraordinary and transformative gift. As the international nexus for artists of African descent, the Studio Museum is honoured and humbled to be recognized among 285 other outstanding non-profit organizations, many of whom are its peers and neighbours in Harlem.
Ms Scott’s acknowledgement of art and culture’s ability to create space and build community is borne out by the tireless work of culturally specific, community-centric institutions like the Studio Museum and by the unflagging support of their trustees and dedication of their staffs to carve out a place for work in a historically exclusionary field. Ms Scott’s giving is notable for its emphasis on levelling the field for institutions that often have been overlooked in the greater philanthropic landscape.
This donation, which will be used to augment the Studio Museum’s endowment, will strengthen the Museum in the long term by generating operating revenue year after year, thereby supporting the exhibitions, research and publications, signature Artist-in-Residence program, education initiatives, and more that have made the Studio Museum a leading contemporary art institution for more than half a century.
Thelma Golden said, “Like other institutions that are benefiting from MacKenzie Scott’s generosity, The Studio Museum in Harlem will now be positioned more strongly to contribute to its audiences, its artists, its city, and the world of art. I am deeply inspired when I think about the possibilities for important and groundbreaking work that this gift will enable for years to come.”
