PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM ANNOUNCES

$650 MILLION ADVANCEMENT CAMPAIGN

  CAMPAIGN ONE OF THE LARGEST FOR AN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

• $550 million in gifts and pledges secured to date • $350 million for endowment •

• $200 million for facility expansion designed by Rick Mather Architects •

• $100 million for infrastructure and improvements •

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) of Salem, Massachusetts, announced a comprehensive $650 million Campaign designed to advance the museum’s mission to celebrate outstanding artistic and cultural creativity in ways that transform people’s lives. The museum has received gifts and pledges totaling $550 million during the quiet phase of the Campaign initiated in 2006.  

The Campaign includes a $350 million addition to the current $280 million endowment, $200 million for a 175,000-square-foot expansion designed by Rick Mather Architects, and $100 million to support creative new installations of the collection, several infrastructure improvements to existing facilities and other advancement initiatives.

The $350 million endowment increase will cover all increased operating and program costs for an expanded facility; support continued development of the museum’s distinctive exhibitions, publications, curatorial and education programs; and enable continuation of a strong financial base.

The expansion will add up to 75,000 square feet of new galleries; a new restaurant and roof garden; new public program and education space; and essential improvements to collections storage, exhibition processing and conservation functions.

Increased gallery space for permanent exhibitions will permit the museum to more effectively present its large and diverse collection — which exceeds 1.8 million works of art and culture — through new installations employing creative interpretive strategies aimed at increasing visitor engagement in art and highlighting connections among artistic and cultural traditions.

The addition of 15,000 square feet of changing exhibition galleries will permit significant growth in that program area. During the past three years, exhibitions organized by PEM have premiered at the museum and then traveled to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fine Arts Museum, Houston, the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Saint Louis Art Museum and other major museums.

The Campaign will also provide structural and other improvements to the museum’s Phillips Library, a singular rare books collection and research center, as well as other infrastructure improvements and capital reserves for all museum facilities.

After completion of the Campaign in 2016, PEM will rank among the top dozen art museums in the nation in terms of gallery space and annual operating budget and top six in terms of total endowment.

Dan L. Monroe, director and CEO, said, “Building on a legacy that extends back to 1799, PEM is committed to celebrating outstanding artistic and cultural creativity in a global context. Our members, patrons, trustees, overseers, staff, and volunteers have made remarkable investments in the power of art to enrich people’s lives and to enhance the world in which we live. We deeply appreciate their dedication and generosity.”

Rick Mather Architects has been selected from among a list of internationally acclaimed architects to design the museum expansion due to the firm’s keen sensitivity to urban context, ability to unite contemporary design with existing structures, and success in integrating art and architecture. Mather’s design will complement the 1977 Dodge Wing and the 2003 Moshe Safdie addition, and highlight Yin Yu Tang, the museum’s unique Qing dynasty Chinese house, and East India Marine Hall, a National Historic Landmark.

The Campaign will provide several hundred construction and other jobs during its course, generate long-term economic benefits to Massachusetts and New England, and add new dimensions to the vibrant artistic and cultural life of Massachusetts and the region. 

Chris Reaske, chief philanthropy officer at PEM, credits the museum’s success in the quiet phase of the Campaign to “exceptional teamwork and many committed and extraordinarily generous donors and patrons who have invested in PEM’s singular heritage, record of growth and achievement, and unwavering commitment to excellence and creativity.”

PEM’s Board of Trustees is led by Co-Chairmen Sean Healey, chairman and CEO of Affiliated Managers Group Inc., and Sam Byrne, co-founder and managing partner of CrossHarbor Capital Partners, and Board President Robert Shapiro, partner at the international law firm of Ropes & Gray.

Healey, Byrne and Shapiro stated, "PEM has a mission to make art a vital part of people's lives. The museum has done this in a global context for two centuries, and with special energy and creativity in recent years. The Campaign will cap two decades of thrilling advancement involving the commitment, generosity and teamwork of everyone in the PEM family. We are very grateful for the support that has launched the Campaign so boldly, and we prize the continued spirit of adventure and discovery that will propel the Campaign to a successful conclusion."

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Collection

Founded in 1799 by many of America’s first global entrepreneurs, PEM’s collection encompasses broad cross-sections of American, Asian, Asian export, African, Oceanic, maritime, photography and Native American art plus early American and Chinese architecture. PEM’s collection is among the finest of its kind in several areas. The collection includes 1.8 million objects, 22 historic buildings (including four National Historic Landmark buildings and six structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places), plus Yin Yu Tang, the unique Qing dynasty Chinese house.

The Phillips Library collection includes more than 400,000 volumes, thousands of rare documents and manuscripts chronicling New England art and culture from its earliest beginnings, as well as important holdings in Asian, Oceanic, maritime, American, Asian and Native American art and history, the Nathaniel Hawthorne archives, and other materials of interest to scholars and researchers worldwide.

Between 1993 and the present, PEM has acquired several thousand works of art through gifts and purchases.

Recent Museum History

PEM was formed in 1992 through consolidation of the former Peabody Museum of Salem and the Essex Institute. PEM launched the Third Century Campaign, the first comprehensive campaign in its history, in 1995.

The museum successfully completed the $194 million Third Century Campaign in 2004. That campaign fueled creation of a new identity for PEM as an art museum uniquely dedicated to connecting art and the world in which it was made. The Third Century Campaign also resulted in renovation or restoration of more than 170,000 square feet of existing facilities; construction of a new 113,000-square-foot addition designed by Moshe Safdie; acquisition of Yin Yu Tang, a complete Qing dynasty house, and re-erection of the house on the PEM campus; and creation of new exhibition, education, publication and collections care programs. Baseline attendance increased 170 percent following completion of the Third Century Campaign, and the museum dramatically increased its national and international visibility. The number of staff members increased from 80 to 236 individuals to date.

Following the 2008 economic crisis, PEM restructured operations and selectively cut expenditures while simultaneously making a substantial investment in exhibitions and select education and public programs. This strategy resulted in attendance growth, increased national and international visibility, and strong patron and donor support.

PEM’s staff provides regional and national leadership to the art museum community. Dan L. Monroe, executive director and CEO, is currently president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and past president of the American Association of Museums. Josh Basseches, deputy director, is president of the New England Museum Association. Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, The James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Chief Curator, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Curators. Other executive and curatorial staff members hold leadership positions in their respective fields.

The PEM Board of Trustees consists of 23 members, including trustees from New England, Houston, Denver and Bombay. The Board, along with many generous patrons and donors, has played a central role in the success to date of the PEM Campaign.

Rick Mather Architects

Rick Mather Architects is an architecture and urban design practice based in London, U.K. “Rick Mather and his team are known for an uncanny ability to harmoniously combine contemporary designs with historic structures, for which he has a great appreciation and understanding,” said Josh Basseches, deputy director at PEM.

Rick Mather Architects has won more than 50 awards in recognition of the design quality of its work, including two nominations for the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize.

A native of Oregon, Mather went to the U.K. to study urban design at the Architectural Association in London, and founded his practice in 1973.

His work has been published and exhibited around the world. He is particularly noted for his work in the U.K. at Sir John Soane’s Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and in the United States at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia.

The PEM expansion will be one of Rick Mather Architects’ largest projects to date. Boston’s CBT architectural firm will be the architect of record for the expansion and Turner Construction Company will serve as general contractor.

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