Funded by a legacy from the late Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, the Milwaukee-based Ruth Foundation for the New Arts is poised to become a major force in American art philanthropy.
The foundation, which launched with a $ 440 million endowment, plans to increase it to an annual grant of $ 17 million or more, it said in a statement issued Thursday. That annual amount puts the Ruth Foundation at the top of the arts grant, Joel Wachs, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, told The New York Times.
DeYoung Kohler, who died in 2020, was director of the John Michael Kohler Sheboygan Arts Center from 1972 to 2016. Under her leadership, JMKAC has been recognized internationally as a leader in the study and preservation of artist-built environments, such as the late Mary L. Nohl’s home at Fox Point, as well as self-taught artists. and vernacular.
Her passion projects included the Art Preserve in Sheboygan, which opened in 2021, a center for the study and conservation of more than 25,000 pieces of art environments by 38 national and international artists.
MORE: From Mary Nohl’s tools to chicken bone thrones, Kohler’s new Art Preserve welcomes works from ‘artist-built environments’
MORE: Dr. Charles Smith finds home for Black Arc experience at Sheboygan’s Art Preserve
She was also a major shareholder in a privately held Kohler Co., which John Michael Kohler founded in 1873.
Karen Patterson, a former senior curator at JMKAC, is the executive director of the new foundation. Under the leadership of Patterson and program director Kim Nguyen, the foundation “will seek to explore new possibilities in art philanthropy that safeguards creativity and takes a people-centered approach.”
In a statement, the foundation announced an initial round of grants totaling $ 1.25 million, with grants of $ 10,000 to $ 50,000 for 78 nonprofit arts organizations across the country, including Arts @ Large and Milwaukee Film Festival in Milwaukee.
For the initial round of grants, the Ruth Foundation asked a group of nearly 50 artists across the country, asking them to nominate worthy organizations. The award process will continue to be invitation-based, the foundation said.
In addition to making grants, the foundation’s plans include collaborating with other entities on a program of artists visiting art schools, a fellowship program for artists, and research grants for cultural workers.
Interested people can sign up for an email newsletter about the foundation’s work at rutharts.org/.
Contact Jim Higgins at jim.higgins@jrn.com. Follow on Twitter at @jhiggy.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Sentinel Journal at jsonline.com/deal.
