Boise Art Museum Awarded $150,000 Grant from the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation

Boise, ID – The Boise Art Museum is pleased to announce a grant of $150,000 from the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, supporting the Museum’s exhibition program. This funding will enable BAM to present three extraordinary exhibitions over the next three years.
BAM’s exhibitions are the basis of the Museum’s service and programs. Each year, more than 60,000 community members visit BAM to see exhibitions that encourage an exploration of diverse viewpoints and forms of expression. The experience of viewing original works of art simply cannot be replicated by looking at images of art. Most of this artwork would not otherwise be accessible to people in our community and within a 300-mile radius without requiring travel across the United States or to Europe. While all of BAM’s exhibitions are exceptional, some stand out as being truly extraordinary. For example, Boise Art Museum has displayed works of art by historically significant artistic icons such as Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Rodin, Edgar Degas, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, John James Audubon and Ansel Adams. These artworks and artists are a part of the common lexicon of most community members and are universally important for people to know and experience. Exhibitions showcasing America’s most exciting contemporary artists, such as Nick Cave, Chuck Close, William Morris, Devorah Sperber, Alexis Rockman, and Faith Ringgold, provide audiences with a connection to the greater world of art and encourage a greater understanding of the visual arts in our time. These exhibitions have sparked new and renewed interest for visitors to the Museum and increased the sense of community established through the gathering of people around shared values.
“The Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation has been a partner with the Boise Art Museum and a community leader for many years. This grant will ensure that people in our community have access to high caliber works of art that would not otherwise be available to them in Idaho,” states Melanie Fales, BAM’s Executive Director. “With this support, the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation once again has demonstrated its recognition of the visual arts as fundamental to the quality of life in our community. We are grateful to the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation for their philanthropic leadership for the benefit of our community.”
For 75 years, the Boise Art Museum has fulfilled an essential need for its community by nurturing forms of visual arts and creativity that exist nowhere else in Idaho. BAM presents a comprehensive program of changing exhibitions addressing a wide spectrum of historical periods, artistic media and styles, all of which reflect diversity and excellence in the visual arts. The Museum’s exhibitions are enhanced by educational programs for people of all ages, learning styles and interests. These exhibitions and educational programs serve more than 60,000 people annually, including 16,000 Idaho students who visit BAM through its Free School Tour Program and those who are touched through BAM’s ArtReach program into rural schools.
The Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation is dedicated to advancing the great State of Idaho. The Foundation is one of Idaho’s oldest and largest charitable foundations. It provides over four hundred fifty scholarships to Idaho students at community colleges, technical colleges and universities every year. The Foundation also funds nonprofit organizations throughout the State of Idaho through a competitive grant process every year, strengthening our communities and the state as a whole.
More information about the Boise Art Museum’s exhibitions and educational programs can be found on BAM’s website at www.www.boiseartmuseum.org.

Boise Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational, and charitable organization. The Museum is nationally accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Support is provided by BAM members, contributions and grants from individuals, corporations and foundations, as well as grant funding from the Idaho Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Boise Art Museum (BAM) is located downtown in Julia Davis Park. HOURS Tuesday – Saturday, 10 AM – 5 PM and Sunday, Noon – 5 PM. Open 10 AM – 9 PM the first Thursday of each month, featuring admission by donation all day. ADMISSION $5 General, $3 Seniors (62+) and full-time college students, $1 students grades 1-12. Children under 6 and Museum members are always free. Boise State University students gain free admission with their valid student ID card, through 8/23/12.
670 JULIA DAVIS DRIVE BOISE, ID 83702 208-345-8330 FAX 208-345-2247 WWW.BOISEARTMUSEUM.ORG