The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation funds programs that advance arts education in public, charter and parochial schools in New York City. It also supports scholarly research in the arts, loans works of art to museums for special exhibitions and awards art-related project grants to museums, libraries and universities.
IP TAKE: The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation primarily focuses on arts education in New York City, where its grantees prioritize public middle and high school students. A few organizations, not individual artists, beyond New York have received funding in recent years.
A somewhat accessible funder, only the Arts and Arts Education program accepts letters of inquiry during a specific period of time between November and December each year. The rest of it’s grantseekers will need to network to get on this funder’s radar.
PROFILE: The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation was established in 1995 by the late Maria-Gaetana von Spreti Matisse, who was known as Tana Matisse. Tana was the wife of Pierre Matisse, an art dealer and collector who was the youngest child of the celebrated 20th century French painter Henri Matisse. Tana left the bulk of her estate to the foundation when she died in 2001. As a result, the most significant assets of the Foundation are the works from her collection of art.
The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation funds programs which advance arts education at middle and high schools in New York City, supports scholarly research in the arts, loans works of art to museums for special exhibitions and awards art-related project grants to museums, libraries and universities.
Grants for Arts Education
Arts education reflects the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation’s largest area of giving and is mainly limited to programs and projects in New York City. The foundation’s work in this area represents its strong commitment “to engage diverse communities and audiences in the arts” and to increase “accessibility to institutions and art practices as a means to promote identity, creativity and cultural literacy.”
It currently awards three types of education grants:
Grants for Arts and Arts Education, which are are awarded to organizations committed to making the arts a solid and significant part of the education process.
Arts Education Schools Choose Grants, which help New York City public middle and high schools counter diminished funding for arts education programs.
Arts Education Impact Grants, which are awarded to organizations that help develop and implement arts education programs in New York City schools and communities.
One recent grantee, Project Art, used funding to expand its programs that bring youth visual arts classes and studio space to public libraries. Another recent grant went to City Lore, an organization that runs in-school programs for grades three through eight that involve poetry and spoken word traditions from around the city and around the world. Other grantees include Brooklyn’s East New York Middle School of Excellence, the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, the Park Avenue Armory and the New York Theatre Workshop, which used funding to run residency and mentoring programs for high school students.
Grants for Visual Arts
With its founder’s deep roots in the world of visual arts, the Matisse Foundation has provided support for research and programs in visual arts at many museums, libraries and universities, although the foundation does not name specific goals for this funding.
The foundation also loans works of art from its own collection to museums and galleries around the world. Past recipients include the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Courtauld Art Institute, the Frick Collection and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Matisse Foundation supports arts and culture initiatives beyond the world of visual arts, with a significant portion of these grants remaining in New York City. Grantees tend to be small- to medium-sized organizations, and music, film, dance and theater appear to be areas of interest. In New York, the foundation has given to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Checkerboard Film Foundation and Mark DeGarmo Dance. Elsewhere, the foundation has supported the Celebrity Series of Boston, a non profit performing arts showcase, and Montreal’s Festival International du Film sur l’Art.
Important Grant Details:
The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation makes between $3 and $4.5 million a year in grants. Grants range from $400 to $500,000, with an average grant size of about $30,000.
More than half of all grantmaking funds arts education programs in New York City, and programs that serve students attending public schools are prioritized. Other grantees include art museums and performing arts organizations that have strong education and/or public outreach programs.
For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s selected grantees and selected past grantees pages.
The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation accepts letters of inquiry for its Arts and Arts Education grants each fall “typically from November through December” via its online application portal.
Application for the foundation’s Arts Education Impact Grants and Schools Choose Grants are by invitation only. Prospective applicants are advised to read the foundation’s guidelines page and submit general inquiries to the foundation via email or telephone at (212) 935-7562.
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