New York Times: SDRF Grants for Social Justice

The Living Pyramid by Agnes Denes, at 2016 grantee organization Socrates Sculpture Park. [image description: a curved pyramid sculpture which is covered in grasses is within the park, in the background is the Hudson river and the Manhattan skyline, it is a sunny day]

Grants for Social Justice

By Robin Pogrebin

The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation has selected the first 46 recipients to share in nearly $1 million under its new Art and Social Justice initiative.

Those getting the grants — including the Studio Museum in Harlem, Creative Time and El Museo del Barrio — were chosen for their commitment to social justice and to programming that promotes equality, collective action and public discourse.

“We really want to be engaged in community building,” said Ms. Rubin, who, with her husband, Donald, founded the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan, which holds their Himalayan art collection.

The grants — ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 — offer various kinds of assistance, from operating support to funds for exhibitions and education. “We wanted social impact and we wanted quality art,” said Alexander Gardner, the foundation’s executive director. “We wanted to make sure we were finding excellence in both.”