Helen Frankenthaler, Flood (1967) from Abstract Climates series. Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.:Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; via Whitney Museum of American Art.
“The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative was conceived to move art museums toward net zero, and to set an example for all institutions and citizens to follow suit,” said foundation president Fred Iseman in a statement. “We wanted to help US art institutions join the climate fray. There is a void to be filled: a crying need to provide technical know-how and financial support to art institutions to scope their needs, define problems and implement solutions.”
Among the museums receiving aid in this first round are New York’s Studio Museum in Harlem and New Haven’s Yale University Arts Center, which will use the $100,000 each was awarded to assess their clean-energy needs with the assistance of an engineer, and Santa Rosa’s California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, which will deploy its received $100,000 toward a resilient energy system and a cleaner air system, as the center considers its future as a haven for at-risk residents seeking shelter from climate-change-driven events such as forest fires. Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce, which received $50,000, plans to use it to pay for assessments of its wall insulation and state of repair as it prepares to withstand earthquakes and increasingly intense weather patterns. Funds for other grantees are earmarked for various upgrades such as the replacement of out-of-date engineering systems, building code compliance, and compliance with state and local energy policies.
