FRANKENTHALER CLIMATE INITIATIVE

Helen Frankenthaler, Cool Summer, 1962, oil on canvas, 69 3/4 x 120 inches (177.2 x 304.8 cm).*

A Commitment to Climate Action in the Visual Arts

The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation has expanded the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative to $15 million and announced the recipients of its third grantmaking cycle, encompassing 48 visual art organizations and art schools across the country. For more information about its 2023 grantees, click here.
2023 Grantees
Grants for Clean, Efficient Energy in Visual Arts Museums
As climate change has emerged as a defining issue of our day, museums and cultural institutions can take a leadership position in demonstrating that climate action is within reach. With energy costs as second-largest component of museum budgets, efficiency improvements and clean energy generation are the best opportunities for arts organizations to reduce emissions and save money. The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative is an energy and climate granting program launched by Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in partnership with RMI and Environment and Culture Partners. It is the first program of its kind in the U.S. for the visual arts and is the largest private national grant-making program to address climate change through cultural institutions.
  • The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative funds energy efficiency and clean energy generation projects in the following categories:
  • Scoping grants help museums understand the climate and energy mitigation opportunities at their facilities.
  • Technical assistance grants support the specification and budgeting of an identified efficiency project to allow for procurement and financing.
  • Implementation grants provide partial seed funding for fully specified projects.
Institutions of all sizes with visual arts as a key part of their mission and programming are encouraged to apply. This includes collecting and non-collecting institutions as well as visual arts schools.
* © 2023 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Photo credit: Rob McKeever, courtesy Gagosian.