Audain Art Museum endowment set at $50 million
Philanthropist Michael Audain is aiming to double the size of the permanent endowment for the Audain Art Museum in Whistler to $50 million.
Audain said he set the higher target because of the success of the current fundraising campaign for the endowment. In about 2½ years, the campaign has raised $24 million of its $25-million target.
“I just felt we couldn’t take the attitude that we’ve reached the $25-million target, therefore we’re not going to build the endowment any further,” he told Postmedia News.
“I happen to believe people in B.C. and the Lower Mainland are willing in supporting what we’re doing in Whistler.”
At a four per cent rate of return, an endowment of $50 million would generate $2 million annually for the museum.
Audain is the founder of the museum and chair of the Audain Art Museum Foundation.
The AAM opened in March 2016. In its first year of operation, it attracted about 55,000 people.
The cost of constructing the $43.5-million museum was paid for by Audain and his wife Yoshiko Karasawa.
The permanent collection, also donated by the couple, is comprised of mostly B.C. art that includes 24 Emily Carr paintings as well as historical and contemporary Indigenous masks and works.
Although Whistler is an international resort that attracts skiers, snowboarders and vacationers from around the world, the $24 million in the endowment was mostly donated by B.C. residents, Audain said.
“Some has come from friends in Toronto and New York but most of it has been locally based,” Audain said.
“I happen to be a big believer in endowments. When you can tell someone that their commitment is going to support this operation in perpetuity, I think that’s something people like to do.”
The most recent donation is $2 million by Vancouver business executive and philanthropist Tom Gautreau and his wife Teresa. Tom Gautreau is president of G.I.H. Properties. In recognition of the gift, four special exhibition areas on the lower level will now be called the Tom and Teresa Gautreau Galleries. Opening today in the Gautreau exhibition spaces is Stone and Sky: Canada’s Mountain Landscape. The exhibition of more than 100 paintings, photographs, drawings and other works runs until Feb. 26.