NEH Challenge Grant Request for Mid-Level Curatorships

FAIN: CH-50889-11

Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Minneapolis, MN 55404-3506)
Kaywin Feldman (Project Director: May 2010 to September 2012)

Endowment for mid-level curatorial positions in Asian Art.

In January 2010, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) was awarded a grant of $1,750,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create and endow two mid-level (assistant or associate) curatorships to meet pressing needs for curatorial depth at the museum currently, in Asian art. In order to ensure a sustainable endowment for these positions, Mellon’s $1,500,000 endowment challenge will be matched by the MIA with $2,250,000 within the course of four years, while $250,000 in spendable funds from the foundation will allow the museum to recruit, and if possible, hire the two scholars while raising the matching funds. With this proposal, the MIA requests a $1,000,000 mirror challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to help meet this important challenge.

Media Coverage

MIA Makes Most of Asian Art (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Mary Abbe
Publication: Star Tribune
Date: 6/8/2011
Abstract: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has hired Chinese-born curator Liu Yang to head an expanded Department of Asian Art with $4.75 million in new funding.Liu, 49, who will begin work June 20, replaces the department's founding curator, Robert Jacobsen, who retired last year after 33 years in the post. One of his first tasks will be to hire two curators responsible for Japanese, Korean, Indian and southeast Asian art. They are new "junior" positions supported by $4.75 million in new funding, led by a $1.75 million challenge grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The rest came from longtime museum patron Jane Emison ($1.5 million), an anonymous donor ($1 million) and the National Endowment for the Humanities ($500,000).
URL: http://http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/123398858.html