Harn Museum receives grant to improve collection storage

June 30, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida a $140,650 grant for the stabilization of its collection of 6,200 works of art. The award is eligible for $226,685 of federal matching funds, bringing the total amount of the award to $367,335.

The Harn Museum of Art will use the award to improve storage and environmental conditions for its collections of African art, Asian art, modern art, contemporary art and photography. Work on the project will begin in July 2006 and is slated to be completed by July 2008. Items to be addressed will include increasing the number of climate-controlled rooms and maximizing storage space with new furniture and room design. When the grant funds are matched with private funds, the project budget will be close to $700,000.

“The renovation and expansion of art storage at the Harn made possible by the NEH stabilization grant will effectively double the museum’s storage capacity,” Harn Museum Director Rebecca Nagy said. “Additional state-of-the-art storage facilities are critical to achievement of the Harn’s ambitious goals for developing our core collections, which are growing steadily, thanks to contributions from many generous donors.”

The award was one of 171 announced June 8 by the NEH for projects designed to advance humanities research and prepare scholarly editions, provide high quality public programming on television and in libraries, support projects in U.S. history and culture offered by state humanities councils, preserve and stabilize significant humanities collections, and support long-term plans for strengthening humanities programming at cultural institutions. The total value of the NEH awards was $24.8 million in grants and offers of matching funds. The Harn Museum was the only museum in Florida awarded in this grant cycle.

The Harn Museum of Art is one of the Southeast’s largest university art museums with more than 6,000 works in its collection and an array of temporary exhibitions. The museum enhances the activities of the university and serves a culturally diverse audience through educational programming.

Through Sept. 1, museum hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 352-392-9826 or visit www.harn.ufl.edu.