The Kresge Foundation has awarded a $1 million challenge grant to the Sam Fox Arts Center at Washington University in St. Louis.
To receive the grant, which supports construction of two new buildings within the Sam Fox Arts Center as well as renovations to Bixby and Givens Halls, the university must raise an additional $4.4 million in outright gifts and pledges by July 1, 2005. An additional goal of the grant is to attract support from a broad base of friends and donors.
“Superb visual arts education is one of the hallmarks of Washington University, but new facilities for our programs are urgently needed,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “This is an all-or-nothing challenge—if we fail to meet the goals, we will not receive the grant.
“On April 14, 2004, we will break ground for the Sam Fox Arts Center,” Wrighton continued. “Fumihiko Maki, the renowned architect for the project, and the famed artist Frank Stella will be our honored guests, and we are planning a celebration to be remembered. I ask all our friends to help us meet the Kresge Challenge by April 14, so that we can announce our success at the groundbreaking ceremony.”
The Sam Fox Arts Center links the university’s five visual arts and design programs — the School of Art, School of Architecture, Gallery of Art, Art & Architecture Library and Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences — through interdisciplinary and collaborative programs and curricula as well as through new and renovated facilities.
The two new buildings are Earl E. and Myrtle E. Walker Hall, a 38,000-square-foot studio facility for the School of Art, and a 65,000 gross-square-foot art museum, which will house exhibition and storage space for the Gallery of Art; the 3,000-square-foot Newman Money Museum; the 13,000-square-foot Kenneth and Nancy Kranzberg Information Center; and offices and classrooms for the Department of Art History & Archaeology.
Construction is scheduled to last 18 to 24 months and will begin immediately after Commencement in May. New facilities are scheduled to open in Spring 2006.
Both Walker Hall and the art museum will be integrated with three existing arts buildings: Bixby Hall, home to the School of Art; Givens Hall, home to the School of Architecture; and Steinberg Hall, current home to the Gallery of Art, the Art & Architecture Library and the Department of Art History & Archaeology. Bixby and Givens Halls have undergone extensive renovations; renovations to Steinberg Hall will begin after new construction is completed.
Both new buildings are designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, who taught at the School of Architecture in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Steinberg Hall, dedicated in 1960, was Maki’s very first commission.
Last October, the Sam Fox Arts Center successfully met a $1 million challenge grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla. Generous donations totaling $5.8 million from thirty individuals, two foundations and two companies to support construction of the Museum Building were received by the Oct. 9, 2003 deadline and enabled the university to earn the grant.
The Kresge Foundation is an independent, private foundation based in Troy, Mich. The foundation was created in 1924 by the personal gifts of Sebastian S. Kresge, “to promote the well-being of mankind” and is not affiliated with any corporation or organization. Today, The Kresge Foundation’s challenge grants reflect virtually the entire breadth of the nonprofit sector, including higher education, health and long-term care, arts and humanities, human services, science and the environment, and public affairs. Since its establishment, the foundation has awarded more than 8,000 grants, both nationally and internationally, totaling close to $2 billion.
For more information, call Lynn Giardina, senior director of development, at (314) 935-7217, or write giardina@wustl.edu.