Meet our Grantees
Women Beyond Borders
http://www.fristcenter.org/site/exhibitions/exhibitiondetail.aspx?cid=210
http://www.womenbeyondborders.org/main.htm
We don’t often fund arts-related activities, but occasionally a particular cause manages to hit a number of our areas of interest. This was a great grant for us because:
- It was unusual and interesting: women artists from all over the world expressing themselves as individuals, telling a story through the way they decorated standard little wooden boxes. Hundreds of them, all so different and each so compelling, were part of a traveling exhibition.
- It supported a unique institution. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts doesn’t own art – it showcases art. Rather than invest resources in acquiring and curating a permanent collection, this exhibition space houses an ever-changing variety of exhibits.
- The institution is housed in an Art Deco landmark. Everything that contributes to the successful repurposing of this old Post Office contributes to the preservation of the architectural elements that are original or restored.
- It involved community groups in the arts. Special receptions and tours targeted women and girls, inviting them to see the women’s worldwide participatory project.
- It invited other women and girls to add their contributions to the collection. In every city where the exhibit traveled, women and girls were given the opportunity to create their own little boxes. Exhibits included some of this art.
- It was a partnership with a leading female philanthropist. Susan Simons, a philanthropic mentor to HF founder Ruth Ann Harnisch, is a visionary patron of the arts. When she proposed this partnership, we knew we couldn’t go wrong. And it also involved other members of the Tennessee Women’s Forum, adding to the credibility of the project.
We like this project for another reason: it proves that there’s always room for a good idea. Maybe you’d have thought after the AIDS Quilt Project that there was no room (literally or figuratively) for another add-a-something charitable art project.
This is proof: There’s room. And while we’re at it, there’s even room for other charitable quilt projects, including another one of our favorites, Clara Wainwright’s The Faith Quilts Project.