University of Michigan Museum of Art Receives $1M Grant

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) has received a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Specifically, $750,000 will support a challenge grant to endow the Museum’s Academic Coordinator position, and $250,000 will support UMMA’s Collections Assistant and UMMA-History of Art Fellowship for three more years.
 
“This significant grant from the Mellon Foundation will enable UMMA to continue and enhance our ongoing development of humanities-based initiatives long into the future,” said Joseph Rosa, UMMA Director. “Along with our endowed support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, this Mellon grant confirms that UMMA will, in perpetuity, be a vibrant partner in engaged learning experiences for U-M students.”
 
Initially funded in 2011 by a 40-month grant from the Mellon Foundation to support new efforts in collections-based teaching and learning, UMMA’s Academic Coordinator manages campus collaborations and facilitates the integration of the Museum’s collections and exhibitions into more courses and research projects. UMMA’s Collections Assistant works closely with the Academic Coordinator to build relationships with faculty at U-M and other area colleges and universities to stimulate use of the Museum’s research and study resources, resulting in a 95% increase in collections use last year alone.
 
The new Mellon grant will sustain UMMA’s focus on increasing the number and frequency of requests for collections access—as well as the continued expansion to new fields of study, building awareness of resources, and updating records to highlight the collection’s value to scholars. Further, by endowing the Academic Coordinator position, UMMA can ensure that a dedicated Museum employee will be a resource to enhance multidisciplinary explorations by faculty and students for decades to come.
 
The UMMA-History of Art Curatorial Research Fellowship pairs the scholarly specializations of History of Art graduate students with the Museum’s collections and has led to new research, exhibitions, and teaching resources in the program’s first three years. The research the Fellows contribute, the new knowledge they create, the services and programs they support, and the perspectives they contribute as part of this mentored learning experience directly impact the quality of UMMA’s campus and community service, substantially benefiting the University of Michigan and those it serves. The new Mellon grant ensures that this work will continue and that the Fellows further their professional training and strengthen their understanding of the connections between art history and museum work—enriching the curatorial field of the future.
 
UMMA currently serves 200,000 visitors on site each year and a global audience of hundreds of thousands of people via digital resources, publications, and tours. UMMA’s dramatically renovated and expanded facility features the Museum’s near-universal collections, an ambitious schedule of special exhibitions, and a wide range of innovative programs with and for students, as well as for campus and community audiences, including events featuring the visual, performing, film, and literary arts.
 
Once UMMA meets the Mellon endowment challenge, which requires a dollar-for-dollar match within three years, the Museum’s Academic Coordinator position will be funded in perpetuity. Funding for this position will be sought as part of UMMA’s role in the University of Michigan’s current Victors for Michigan campaign.
 
“The University of Michigan is incredibly fortunate to be the home of a world-class museum of art,” said U-M President Mark Schlissel. “With Mellon’s generous support, we can assure that current and future generations of Michigan faculty and students can take advantage of our art collection to teach and learn not just about art per se, but about creativity, ambiguity, history, and complexity. The arts and humanities deeply matter at the University of Michigan, and the Museum of Art continues to be a key leader, both on campus and in the field.”