This week, the Museum of Science & History (MoSH) announced the award of a Frankenthaler Climate Initiative grant, conferred by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. The first program of its kind supporting energy efficiency and clean energy projects for the visual arts in the U.S., the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative was developed in partnership with RMI, a global advocate for clean energy, and Environment & Culture Partners consultancy, and was launched in February 2021 as a $5 million, multi-year program.
MoSH is one of 79 grant recipients from the 2021 grant-making round representing institutions across more than 25 states. The museum qualified for the grant based on its collection of visual art representing Memphis and the Mid-South, including the iconic Burton Callicott murals, which were commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, and the Clyde Parke miniature circus.
The award will fund energy assessments at MoSH (Pink Palace) and the Lichterman Nature Center, which is also in the MoSH family of museums. The assessments will lay the groundwork for a plan for energy-efficient improvements at both facilities. MoSH will partner with Entegrity Energy Partners, LLC, of Little Rock, Arkansas, to perform the energy assessments.
“The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative was conceived to move art museums toward net zero, and to set an example for all institutions and citizens to follow suit,” said Fred Iseman, President of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, in a statement. “We wanted to help U.S. art institutions join the climate fray. There is a void to be filled: a crying need to provide technical know-how and financial support to art institutions to scope their needs, define problems, and implement solutions. We made a wide swath of grants in the hope that private benefactors and public policy would continue to support these and other art institutions in their climate goals.”
