Museum Receives Significant Grant
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indianapolis Museum of Art says a $300,000 grant from the New York-based Henry Luce Foundation will boost an effort to digitize more than 5,000 items in its collection. The museum says the 36-month project will focus on paintings, sculptures, textiles and Native American art.
June 5, 2014
News Release
Indianapolis, Ind. — The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) announced today the reception of a $300,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. The grant will assist the Museum in documenting more than 5,000 objects in the IMA's collection of American art, over a 36 month grant period, focusing primarily on paintings, sculptures, textiles, design objects and Native American art.
“It is essential for the IMA to expand our ability to make our collections available to the public and to scholars throughout the world,” said Dr. Charles L. Venable, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the IMA.
“The IMA's American art collection is one of the best in the nation and an excellent resource for art scholars and students of all levels. Thanks to the generous support of the Luce Foundation, we will be able to digitize and post online a large part of our American art; making it available to frequent visitors and audiences who visit the IMA virtually through our website.”
The Luce Foundation's grant is the next major step in the IMA's digitization efforts, and its goal to expand the online presence of and access to the IMA's collections, images, archives, libraries, publications and promote the use of IMA assets by the public and by specialized scholars. Luce Foundation grant funds will support the hiring of temporary full-time staff members and the purchase of equipment essential to the completion of the digitization project.
In the future, the IMA hopes to use the content created by this project to enhance on-site visitors' experiences in the American galleries through technology, such as bench or wall-mounted iPads that feature newly digitized content; similar to the interactive content implemented in recent special exhibitions such as Matisse: Life in Color and The Essential Robert Indiana. The project is expected to be underway in early October 2014.
About the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Founded in 1883, the Indianapolis Museum of Art serves the creative interests of its communities by fostering exploration of arts, design and the natural environment. Encompassing 152 acres of gardens and grounds, the IMA is among the 10 oldest and 10 largest encyclopedic art museums in the United States and features significant collections of African, American, Asian, European, contemporary art and design arts that spans 5,000 years of history. Additionally, art, design, and nature are featured at The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, Oldfields–Lilly House and Gardens, a historic Country Place Era estate and National Historic Landmark on the IMA grounds and the Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana, one of the country's most highly regarded examples of mid-century Modernist residences. For more information visit www.imamuseum.org.
Source: Indianapolis Museum of Art