In his article reporting that the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico [Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR)] will receive major funding ($3.6 million) the Ford Foundation, Francisco Javier Díaz (El Nuevo Día) also focused on another effort to raise funds for this renowned Caribbean museum. The virtual auction “Regala Arte” is still open until December 15. Díaz writes:

[. . .] “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 [Marta Mabel Pérez] executive director of the 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.”

Like most nonprofits, MAPR has been greatly affected by the pandemic in the revenue area. In the case of the museum, which has been reflected in the cancellation of special events that took place in the museum, due to the reduction in the sale of items through the museum store and at the ticket office, where only 30% of the public can attend, pursuant to the current executive order. For this reason, the MAPR’s search for additional income is important.

Virtual auction

With this in mind, the event “Regala Arte. Subasta del MAPR” [Give Art. MAPR Auction], where the public will be able to enjoy an exhibition on the second level of Plaza Las Américas (in the hallway between Macy’s and JC Penney) will take place from December 7 to 15, at the times established by the shopping center. The public will also have the opportunity, for the first time, to enjoy and purchase art works through the virtual platform, which can be accessed through the museum’s website www.mapr.org.

In total there are 91 works of art for auction by 53 Puerto Rican or foreign-born artists based in Puerto Rico. The works were made by artists such as Inés Aponte, Rogelio Báez, Eduardo Cabrer, Bobby Cruz, Carlos Dávila Rinaldi, Charles Juhasz Alvarado, Rosario Fernández, Sofía Maldonado, Antonio Martorell, Néstor Millán, Ernesto Pujol, Rafael Rivera Rosa, Gamaliel Rodríguez, Rafael Trelles, and Adrián Villeta, among others. Those interested can buy the work at the moment, paying a certain amount, or through an auction, where people will have up to eight days to indicate the amount with which they would like to buy the work. When the auction ends, whoever has indicated that they would pay the highest amount will take the work home. This can be done both online, and at the exhibition at Plaza las Américas. Some of the works start from $400. [. . .]

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/

[Image above: Executive director of the MAPR, Marta Mabel Pérez.]