Tang receives $1 million grant from Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore has received a $1 million challenge grant from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. The one-to-one matching grant will help build the Tang’s endowment and will support expansion of the museum’s programming that serves Skidmore students and faculty, the Saratoga Springs community, and visitors to New York’s Capital Region.
"Quiet Music" performance at the I was a
double exhibitiion
The new grant will help to strengthen the Tang’s interdisciplinary approach, which has become a model for university art museums across the nation. A hallmark of the museum’s programming is the combining of visual and performing arts with other fields—from economics to astrophysics to organic chemistry—to create exhibitions, events, and performances that explore new ideas and perspectives.
The Tang’s outreach and education programming includes artist-led workshops and seminars, object-based learning for community groups and public schools, student-curated exhibitions, and open houses for the Skidmore community and beyond. The new grant will help to endow the position of the assistant director for engagement and will fund programming to reach new audiences, including school-age students and adults in traditionally underserved areas.
“Our mission as a teaching museum is central to everything we do at the Tang,” said Ian Berry, the museum’s Dayton Director. “We are grateful to the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund for its continued support and for its recognition of our work of fostering meaningful exchange and dialogue in our community, and new ways of learning for our audiences here in Saratoga and beyond.”
Gallery view: I was a double at the Tang
In addition to the matching grant, the Illumination Fund will host a New York City showcase of works from I was a double, curated by the Tang’s Ian Berry and composer David Lang. The show, which premiered at the Tang from July 5, 2014 through January 4 of this year, explores musical interpretations of artworks as well as the intersection of music and the fine arts. For this new version of the exhibition, Turner Prize-nominee Ciara Philips will create a new work based on her recent exhibition at London’s Tate Modern.
I was a double will be on view at the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund offices (156 West 56th Street, New York City) Feb. 13–June 5 and will be available by appointment during public open hours. Reservations may be requested through Emelyn Arias at earias@lmtif.org.
Illumination Fund public hours are noon to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19; Wednesday, March 25; Wednesday, April 22; and Wednesday, May 6.
“We are proud to expand our support of the Tang Teaching Museum, an institution that continues to pioneer new ways of integrating the fine arts with a diversity of disciplines, creating deeply meaningful experiences for the communities it serves—whether through on-campus scholarship or access and education initiatives that serve public schools and build audiences well beyond the region,” said Laurie M. Tisch, president of the Illumination Fund.
The Illumination Fund has been a supporter of the Tang since 2008, when the fund provided a $1.2 million gift as part of a matching challenge that enabled Skidmore faculty to expand the use of museum resources in their coursework. That grant has also supported programs with visiting artists and scholars.
The Tang Teaching Museum opened its doors in 2000 and marks its 15th anniversary in 2015 with a series of exhibitions and programs to be announced in the coming months. Nicholas Krushenick: Electric Soup, a survey exploring the artist’s influential legacy, is on view through August 16.
For more information call the Tang at 518-580-8080 or visit the museum's website here.
About the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund is a New York City-based foundation that strives to improve access and opportunity for all New Yorkers. Founded in 2007 by philanthropist Laurie M. Tisch, the fund plays an active role in supporting innovative approaches to education, the arts, healthy food, and civic service in order to illuminate strategies that transform the urban landscape. For more information about the Illumination Fund, click here.
