Stavros Niarchos Foundation makes landmark gift to Yale School of Art

Yale has received a contribution of $5 million from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (www.SNF.org) to create a permanent, unrestricted endowment that will support core priorities of the Yale School of Art, while naming in perpetuity the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dean. The endowment will help to advance the school’s leadership and presence in the global fine arts community.

A second gift of $900,000 will supplement three existing endowments for the school that were created by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in 2010; to establish an artist’s residency; fund scholarships for international students; and create a dean’s resource fund.

The university and the foundation will hold a formal celebration on the Yale campus in May to recognize the new gift as well as the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s overall support of Yale.

With these grants, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s contributions to Yale total nearly $14 million. In 2007, the foundation helped establish the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Hellenic Studies at Yale. It has also supported the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale College scholarships, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the Yale Child Study Center.

“I am deeply grateful for these latest contributions from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation,” said President Peter Salovey. “The foundation has our admiration and respect for its generous support of the arts worldwide. These gifts to the Yale School of Art will help to support the education of artists and the practice of art for years to come.”

In making its gifts, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation cited the accomplishments of renowned critic and artist Robert Storr, who has served as dean of the Yale School of Art since 2006.

“Robert Storr’s exceptional artistic insight, leadership abilities, and character came to our notice during his time at the Museum of Modern Art, and they have been equally evident in his tenure at Yale,” noted Andreas C. Dracopoulos, the foundation’s director and co-president. “We are pleased to support his work at the Yale School of Art, as well as the efforts of future deans who will follow him.”

The foundation’s gift will allow the dean to direct funds to key areas such as financial aid, faculty support, teaching, visiting artists, and exhibitions. By naming the deanship, the gift aims to further help the school attract a succession of world-class artists to fill its leadership post.

“The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is one of our most generous benefactors, and I am both delighted and humbled by these contributions,” said Storr. “The new endowments provide a permanent source of flexible funding that will help the school sustain its innovative teaching and practice at the forefront of art and art education.”