The Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston’s premier art museum, has been awarded a grant from the South Carolina chapter of the Boeing Employees Community Fund (ECF) to support the museum’s Art Access project. ECF will invest $4,000 in support of the program, which allows Title I students and teachers in the tri-county area direct access to the museum’s collections and exhibitions.
“We are grateful that the teammates of Boeing South Carolina chose the Gibbes for this financial gift,” says Angela Mack, executive director of the Gibbes Museum of Art. “At the Gibbes, we strive to enable visitors of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to learn, to discover and to be inspired by the creative process. The Art Access program allows us to reach students from low-income areas in the Lowcountry, who we know benefit greatly from engaging with the arts. Studies show these experiences not only offer benefits for mental health, but also sharpen a wide range of cognitive skills including problem solving and creative thinking.”
Traditionally, Art Access has been in the form of immersive guided museum experiences. During the pandemic, the museum team provided quality art access and education to students and teachers in the area through virtual professional development for teachers and community art kits for students. Educators were also provided with a variety of resources to use when building lessons and made aware of ways the museum can be a resource for many different disciplines outside of artmaking or art appreciation. As pandemic restrictions continue to ease, the Gibbes will begin to welcome students back to the museum for in-person experiences with their foremost collection of American art.
Boeing’s Employees Community Fund is one of the largest employee-owned and managed funds of its kind in the world and has been empowering teammates to make greater impact by pooling their tax-deductible donations for more than 60 years. Employee advisory boards provide combined employee donations to nonprofits in their community through grants. Boeing pays all administrative costs so 100 percent of every employee dollar helps strengthen local communities.
Published January 11, 2021
Top image: Students on a tour at the Gibbes. Photo by Thomas Photographers