Lauders' $5 million gift launches PMA endowment campaign
File Photo / Tim Greenway
Mark Bessire, director of the Portland Museum of Art, said the museum needs more space to house its collection and serve the community.
The Portland Museum of Art announced Thursday it has received $5 million from longtime American museum benefactors Judy and Leonard Lauder.
It is the largest matching gift in the museum’s history and will support the museum’s endowment.
In its announcement of the donation, the museum stated the Lauders’ gift marks the official launch of the Focused Endowment Initiative, a targeted plan to increase the museum’s endowment by $15 million.
“This is a transformative gift and one of the largest in the history of the Portland Museum of Art,” PMA Director Mark H.C. Bessire said in a statement. “When we complete the Focused Endowment Initiative — spurred by the remarkable contributions of Judy and Leonard Lauder — the museum’s endowment will have grown to almost $40 million, thus providing the PMA with the stronger foundation it needs to effectively continue its mission.”
The museum noted the director’s position will be named the “Judy and Leonard Lauder Director of the Portland Museum of Art” in recognition of their gift.
“We are overjoyed to be able to make this gift to the Portland Museum of Art in recognition of its sterling leadership — from Director Mark Bessire and Board Chairman Jeffrey Kane — to the extraordinary board, museum staff and volunteers who have collectively made the Portland Museum of Art one of the leading regional art museums in the United States,” the Lauders said in a joint statement. “While we recognize the importance of buildings, we also recognize the tremendous importance of economic stability for cultural institutions. We are confident that this gift, which focuses on the museum endowment, will greatly enhance and promote the financial integrity of this magnificent Maine institution.”
A history of 'transformative' gifts
Prior gifts to the museum include the gift of 17 Winslow Homer works from Charles Shipman Payson in 1979, the gift of a major Renoir painting and related Impressionist works of art from John Whitney Payson in 1991 and the $4 million bequest from William Thon in 2000.
“We are immensely grateful to Judy and Leonard for this remarkable act of generosity and confidence in our enterprise,” Kane said in a statement. “As the Lauder gift clearly demonstrates, the museum’s focus on improving the visitor experience with the collection has made a compelling case for continued investment. This historic and generous gift confirms the Lauders’ extraordinary commitment to the arts and strengthens the capabilities of the PMA to connect art to everyday life.”
As reported by Mainebiz earlier this year, PMA is in the midst of a multi-year project called “Your Museum, Reimagined,” which Bessire has acknowledged is partially inspired by the “Moneyball” Major League Baseball examples in which small market teams compete way over their scale.
The project seeks to improve visitors’ experiences of the museum’s collection and has included the construction of a new participatory space, The Workshop, the publication of the museum’s first-ever collection catalogue, the launch of The Collection Online and the opening of the Peggy L. Osher Art Study and Collection Committee Conference Room.
In January, the museum will close for nearly five weeks, reinstalling the collection throughout the entire museum, gallery by gallery.
It plans a grand reopening on Feb. 3, 2017 in which the collection will be displayed in new ways, including new interpretive and educational materials, self-guided tours and multimedia stations. The newly reimagined museum also will feature the new Harry W. Konkel and Family Welcome Center and have nearly 40% more of its collection on view.
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