HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I—This winter has been a milestone season for the Honolulu Museum of Art. The institution recently received notification that its education programs have garnered a $1 million grant, payable over three years, from the Stupski Foundation.
In addition, the museum has also received a $100,000 grant from the Victoria S. and Bradley L. Geist Foundation for the redevelopment of its website. The Geists were longtime supporters and patrons of the museum and their foundation continues their legacy in supporting its arts education programs.
The grants are an indication of the high quality of the museum’s initiatives, whether providing free art immersion sessions for financially challenged youngsters within their schools or training teachers in the museum on how to use its artwork to put Hawai‘i into a global context for their students.
“Thanks to the generosity and foresight of the Stupski Foundation and the Victoria and Bradley L. Geist Foundation, the museum can continue to advance its service to Hawai‘i’s youth in ever more impactful ways,” says museum director Sean O’Harrow. “The hard work and vision of our staff allows the museum to secure invaluable support like this for its education programs. Our director of Learning and Engagement has come up with a plan to take our existing offerings and strengthen them as one cohesive program that will have more impact for Title I students—a strategy that clearly has caught the attention of foundations looking to support society-changing initiatives.”
Education is the core of the museum’s mission. “Sophisticated philanthropists understand that arts education is essential to nurturing a creative and healthy society, and that’s why they support the museum’s education work” says Dave Washburn, the museum’s director of institutional giving. “Kids are going to be solving the problems of the future and will need to be creative and solution-oriented thinkers. In addition, a new, innovative website that takes advantage of new technologies is a great educational tool by better disseminating information on the museum’s art and programs.”
The grants are:
Stupski Foundation: $1 million over three years
The grant supports the Honolulu Museum of Art’s strategic plan to restructure and further develop its arts education components to create an Arts Integrated Education Program for learning in Title I schools. Each student in the program participates in art immersion classes in school and attends an academically-aligned tour at the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA). Their teachers attend museum-directed workshops on how to use art for effective teaching.
For the first time, HoMA will combine these services to maximize student access to art programming. All activities are designed to support learning goals as defined by The State of Hawai‘i Department of Education. Each year, the program aims to provide 30 hours of art immersion per student, based on feedback regarding ideal programming time from teachers participating in the museum’s Neighborhood Engagement Program at Queen Ka‘ahumanu Elementary School. The program will be offered to students over multiple years.
The Victoria S. and Bradley L. Geist Foundation: $100,000
This generous gift will help fund the redevelopment of the museum’s seven-year-old website, which was built on a now obsolete framework. The goal is to improve the virtual museum visitor experience with improved access to information, art and education programs.
