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McNAY ART MUSEUM AWARDED $1.5 MILLION GRANT FROM THE

ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION ART MUSEUM FUTURES FUND

San Antonio, TX (September 17, 2020) – The McNay Art Museum is honored to announce an award of $1.5 million in operating support over the next 18 months from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest funder of the arts and humanities.

This first-time support of the McNay comes from Mellon’s Art Museum Futures Fund (AMFF), a new COVID-19 relief initiative (announced today) created to help sustain mid-sized art museums with immediate funding as they adapt to unprecedented financial obstacles posed by this worldwide health crisis.

“We are profoundly grateful to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for recognizing our role in the health and happiness of San Antonio,” said Richard Aste, McNay Director and CEO. “We have a long road ahead, and Mellon’s major support during the pandemic enables the McNay to continue leaning into our mission of engaging a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts.”

The McNay was the only museum selected in Texas—and one among twelve in the nation—to receive this grant in recognition of a sustainedcommitment to inclusive, community-driven work. According to Mellon, each AMFF grantee “serves as a crucial steward of their distinguished collections, demonstrates an exceptional commitment to local communities, and regularly offers programming that engages with the richness and complexity of the American experience.”

From dynamic art programming that is co-created with community partners to a transformative Landscape Master Plan that physically opens up the Museum’s campus to San Antonio’s diverse community, the McNay strives to bring more inspiration, hope, and affirmation to everyone through art. In these unprecedented times, the Museum remains focused on being a safe place where visitors see themselves reflected in our outstanding collections and relevant exhibitions.

About McNay Art Museum

The McNay Art Museum engages a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts. Built in the 1920s by artist and educator Marion Koogler McNay, the Spanish Colonial Revival residence became the site of Texas’s first modern art museum when it opened in 1954. Today, 200,000 visitors a year enjoy works by modern masters including Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 25 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds include sculptures by Willie Cole, Robert Indiana, Luis A. Jiménez Jr., George Rickey, Joel Shapiro, Kiki Smith, Tom Wesselmann, and more.