EUGENE–The University of Oregon Museum of Art will receive a $500,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support the museum’s $12 million renovation and expansion project.

"We were thrilled to learn late last week that we are among 26 cultural institutions across the nation that competed successfully for one of these NEH challenge grants," says museum director David Robertson. "This challenge grant will help boost our ongoing fund-raising efforts.

While the building project will enable the museum to keep pace with modern art museum practices and to provide a safe environment for its visitors and art collections, he says this federal support is valuable for two other reasons.

"It is a federal endorsement of our project and its importance to the region, and it also is a financial incentive to donors," Robertson says.

According to Christie McDonald, the museum’s development director, individual, corporate, federal and state commitments currently total $10,200,000, with $6.36 million of that figure coming from a legislative challenge to donors through authorization to sell state bonds that must be matched by private gifts. The NEH grant, on the other hand, requires that each federal dollar be matched by four dollars from state, local or private giving.

"While a portion of the gifts already received can be used to satisfy the match, we still need the help of our friends and supporters to be able to fund the entire project," she says, noting each donated dollar now is worth $2.25 to the museum project.

The Museum of Art renovation and expansion project, unveiled publicly in mid-November, is part of a $135 million building boom on campus. It includes modernizing the existing 34,890-square-foot building and adding 38,290 square feet to the 67-year-old structure.

Major components of the project will address the 1932 building’s critical needs in gallery space, collections storage, climate control and staff workspaces. Included is constructing a new wing, adding a new education suite, improving and adding income-generating spaces, re-locating and expanding administrative offices, and establishing an endowment to support art museum operations.

"The need for this project stems from a period when public participation in the museum has reached an all-time high," Robertson says. "In order to accommodate this nearly 40 percent increase in annual visitation, the museum must expand and renovate its current, outdated space."

According to Robertson, contributing to the UO Museum of Art’s growth are high-quality exhibitions, its popular MusEvenings! programs–recognized by the American Association of Museums as one of the eight most innovative adult education programs in the nation, family-targeted activities and educational programming that is helping Oregon’s K-12 teachers and students achieve the state’s new academic benchmarks and graduation standards.

The architectural team for the art museum project consists of SRG Partnership of Portland and Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge, Inc., of Chicago. Although the construction timeline is subject to change, schematic plans were completed recently, and the project is targeted for completion in 2002.

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities. Through its challenge grant program, the NEH helps universities, public libraries, research centers, museums and state humanities councils to secure long-term support for, and improvements in, their programs and resources.

Accessible to people with disabilities, the UO Museum of Art is open from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday and from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Suggested admission is $3, except on Wednesday evenings when the MusEvenings! program offers free extended viewing hours from
5—8 p.m. Museum members, students, UO employees and children are admitted free.

For information, browse http://uoma.uoregon.edu or call (541) 346-3027.

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