Academic, exhibition & research funding to increase to $8M by 2015.

The Terra Foundation for American Art announced today that it awarded more than $6.75 million in fiscal year 2013 (July 1, 2012–June 30, 2013) for nearly 50 initiatives and partnerships that advance its mission of fostering the exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States. Included among them were the first major survey of American art ever presented in South Korea and Australia and a symposium on digital humanities at the Smithsonian Institution (view the complete list).

Established in 2005, the Terra Foundation’s grant program offers worldwide support for exhibitions and academic programs, as well as public programs and K–12 programs in Chicago, where the organization was founded and is currently based.

According to Terra Foundation President and CEO Elizabeth Glassman, “In the past five years alone, the foundation has supported nearly 400 programs in more than 30 countries. Our goal has been to connect global audiences with the historical art of the United States in ways that resonate with them. I believe these activities have led to a robust cross-cultural exchange.” 

For example, a conference co-organized by professors from the University of Kentucky and Tsinghua University in Beijing slated for this November will examine key exhibitions and museum presentations of American art that have helped shape an evolving historic understanding of what American art is at home and abroad.

The Terra Foundation also announced plans to increase grant funding to $8 million by FY2015.  

“The Terra Foundation has helped increase exposure to and appreciation of American art in countries throughout Europe in the last several years,” added Glassman. “We’d like to do the same in Asia and South America, and this increase in funding is proof of our commitment.”
 
Among the upcoming Terra Foundation-supported projects is the exhibition From Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic: Landscape Painting in the Americas, 1830-1930, which focuses on a century-long period when landscape painting was the primary medium for articulating conceptions of land in the development of cultural identity. Co-organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, and the Terra Foundation, the exhibition will include approximately 150 works of art loaned from museums and private collections throughout the Americas, and travel to museums in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

Terra Foundation for American Art
 
Established in 1978, the Terra Foundation for American Art is dedicated to fostering the exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States. With financial resources of more than $250 million, an exceptional collection of American art from the colonial era to the mid-twentieth century, and an expansive grant program, it is one of the leading foundations focused on American art, and devotes approximately $12 million annually in support of American art exhibitions, projects, and research worldwide.