Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Announces Public Phase of Campaign for the Gardner
BOSTON, MA.- The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, on May 1st, officially kicked off the public phase of its Campaign for the Gardner with a goal of raising the final $45 million in order to complete the total $180 million initiative. The Campaign for the Gardner will enrich the museum’s legacy by enabling current programming to continue while preserving the historic building and collection for future generations. The centerpiece of the Campaign, a new wing on the museum’s property designed by Pritzker Prizewinning architect Renzo Piano, will create purpose-built spaces that will enhance the museum’s civic and public access, visitor experience, and programming capacity. Additionally, the campaign will support restoration and preservation work within the historic galleries, while also bolstering the Gardner Museum’s endowment.
“We were fortunate to have begun this campaign before the economic crisis and now—during one of the toughest fundraising climates we have ever faced—the Gardner remains committed to meeting our goals and the successful completion of our bold plans,” says Anne Hawley, the Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “The support we have seen so far for the Campaign for the Gardner is unprecedented and will set the course for the Gardner Museum for the next century.”
Renzo Piano Plan Sketch, 2008 © Renzo Piano Building Workshop
The new Renzo Piano-designed wing constitutes $114 million of the $180 million total campaign. Forty-six million dollars will increase the Gardner Museum’s endowment in order to secure both the long-term fiscal stability of the institution and the future operations of the new building and its cornerstone programs. The remaining $20 million will be used for preservation work in the historic building and on the collection, programming during the first few years following the opening of the new wing, and to support the museum’s financial sustainability and infrastructure. Funds for preservation work in the galleries will support the restoration of areas of the museum’s galleries, including the complete restoration of the historic Tapestry Room, which will be returned to its original orientation—as it appeared during Isabella Gardner’s lifetime—as one of the nation’s preeminent galleries for viewing tapestries.
The Campaign for the Gardner has raised more than $135 million in gifts and pledges through the early, generous support of 100 donors, including 100 percent of the Board of Trustees, as well as museum overseers and other individuals and foundations with a close association with the institution. These gifts and pledges include $30 million towards endowment. The Gardner Museum must secure an additional $45 million in order to complete the capital and preservation projects central to the museum’s future and to secure additional endowment to undergird the Gardner’s programs in education, music, contemporary art, and landscape.
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