The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation is giving $3.3m to 69 visual arts organisations across the US to help them make energy-efficient upgrades—such as adding solar panels and changing the lighting in their buildings, or auditing their overall energy use and creating plans for achieving carbon neutrality.
This is the foundation’s fourth round in as many years of the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative (FCI), and 2024 marks the first year of its Catalyst Grant—funding short-term projects at organisations “at earlier stages of their climate-action trajectory”, per an announcement.
This year’s grantees include large institutions like the New Museum in New York City (receiving $100,000), Seattle Art Museum ($100,000), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico ($50,000), MoMA PS1 ($25,000) and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art ($25,000), as well as smaller ones like The Kitchen ($50,000), The Chinati Foundation ($50,000), Storefront for Art and Architecture ($25,000) and the Steven Myron Holl Foundation ($15,000). Art schools are also among the grantees—including the Rhode Island School of Design ($50,000) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago ($50,000).
At MacDowell, the fabled artist residency will use its almost $100,000 grant to renovate its studio spaces in order to reach carbon neutrality by 2045. Meanwhile, the Center for Photography at Woodstock’s $25,000 grant will go towards rehabilitating an old cigar factory into an all-electric building.
“Over the last four years, FCI grantees have developed and implemented groundbreaking climate-focused initiatives, inspiring a surge in applications and more ambitious projects,” Elizabeth Smith, director of the Frankenthaler Foundation, said in a statement. “Extending the foundation’s full range of grantmaking activities, FCI upholds Helen Frankenthaler’s legacy and cultivates a future where our peer organisations in the visual arts lead the way in creating a more sustainable world.”
Launched in 2021, FCI was one of the first grant programmes in the US to fund energy efficiency and clean energy specifically for visual art organisations. Over the years, it has funded more than $14m in environmental improvement projects at over 200 institutions in 37 US states and Puerto Rico.