SEATTLE, WA.- The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) is the recipient of a one-time grant of $150,000 from The Henry Luce Foundation. The grant is issued through the American Art Renewal Fund and specifically allocated for SAM’s Curator of Native American Art as well as essential collection management activities for the museum’s American Art department.

The Henry Luce Foundation developed the American Art Renewal Fund to respond to the economic downturn and the current need to strengthen American art activities at the nation’s museums.

This short-term initiative, offered through the American Art Program, provides support for the operating expenses related to American Art. Thus, it is a departure from the traditional focus on research and scholarship and is in effect only though 2011.

SAM has benefited in the past from the Foundation’s generous support for important American art projects. The foundation was a presenting sponsor of the museum’s 2009 exhibition S'abadeb - The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and supported the frame restoration for two signature works of early American art in the museum’s collection: John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Silvester Gardiner and Rembrandt Peale’s Andrew Caldwell.

Since its inception in 1982, The Henry Luce Foundation's American Art Program has provided more than $130 million to support scholarly studies and awareness of American art at some 250 museums, universities and service organizations across the country and internationally.