The Milwaukee Art Museum has created a new philanthropic program, called the “Visionaries,” to recognize its top donors.
Founding members include Burke Properties founder John and Murph Burke, Lubar & Co. chairman Sheldon and Marianne Lubar, Quad/Graphics CEO Joel and Caran Quadracci, former Brewers owner and Major League Baseball commissioner Bud and Sue Selig and Fiserv CEO Jeff Yabuki and the Yabuki Family Foundation.
The museum said in an announcement that it identified the need for a higher level of recognition for long-term donor commitment and involvement during its strategic planning process.
“This group is united by their generosity and their ability to see the potential in what they have helped build for the museum and the community,” said Marcelle Polednik, Donna and Donald Baumgartner director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “We are grateful for their leadership, their support and their involvement in shaping the year, and the future of this Museum. With their help, we truly will be able to take program excellence to new heights.”
The Visionaries support the museum’s overall artistic vision by sponsoring the full year of exhibition programs, as well as connections between exhibitions and with the community.
Exhibitions in 2019 at the museum will include Bouguereau & America; Sara Cwynar: Image Model Muse; Charles Radtke: Contained; and James Nares: Moves.
“The addition of multiple rotating exhibition spaces in 2015 created the opportunity to look not just at a single exhibition, but also at how all the exhibitions work together,” said Margaret Andera, interim chief curator and contemporary curator of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “Establishing this bigger artistic vision takes more than intelligence and passion. It requires the kind of steadfast support and broad perspective that these Visionaries bring.”
The founding Visionaries group is also helping museum leadership find new ways to connect with donors and involve them in supporting the artistic exhibitions, the museum said. Additional members are expected to join the group in 2019.
