Francisco Javier Díaz (El Nuevo Día) reports that the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico [Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR)] was included among the 20 institutions “Cultural Treasures of the United States,” and will receive $ 3.6 million from the Ford Foundation in the next 4 years. This year, the museum is celebrating its 20th anniversary, so this is also a recognition of the trajectory it has taken to care for and maintain Puerto Rican cultural artistic heritage.

Last October, the Ford Foundation gave an important recognition to the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (MAPR) for being included among the 20 institutions that appear among the “Cultural Treasures of the United States.” This is a national and regional initiative to recognize and honor the diversity of artistic expression and excellence in the United States, in addition to providing critical funding to organizations that have had a significant impact on the cultural landscape of the United States despite resources historically limited of these institutions.

With this appointment, the MAPR will receive funds amounting to $ 3.6 million divided over the next four years, which will represent 25% of the total budget of the institution. This year the museum is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, so this achievement is also a recognition of the trajectory it has taken to care for and maintain Puerto Rican cultural artistic heritage.

“We are honored to be recognized and we applaud the Ford Foundation’s commitment to arts and culture,” said Marta Mabel Pérez, executive director of the Puerto Rico Museum of Art. “It is our hope that the exemplary leadership of the Ford Foundation inspires the financial community to invest in our cultural work and our communities. This is an effort they make in the face of the pandemic, since it represents an existential threat to non-profit organizations and artistic institutions throughout the American nation. [. . .]

“During the past three years we have been knocking on the doors of the different foundations in the United States and in Puerto Rico, in order to diversify the funds that come to the institution and these from the Ford Foundation are an example of the work,” added the executive director. from MAPR, who has been in this position for three years. “In addition to that, at MAPR we receive funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. All these scholarships are given to extremely important museums such as the Louvre, MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. To this must be added the funds we have received from the Karen Chappell Foundation, the Flamboyán Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, among others.” [. . .]

Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. For full article (in Spanish), see https://www.elnuevodia.com/entretenimiento/cultura/notas/el-museo-de-arte-de-puerto-rico-recibira-36-millones-de-la-fundacion-ford/