New Ruth Foundation planning to ramp up arts grants
Annual giving expected to reach $17 million
In its surprise launch this summer, the Milwaukee-based Ruth Foundation for the Arts stunned and thrilled the arts and philanthropic worlds, giving $1.25 million in unrestricted grants to 78 American arts organizations, including Milwaukee’s Arts @ Large and Milwaukee Film.
Leaders say that was only the beginning for the nascent foundation.
The foundation’s first two employees, executive director Karen Patterson and program director of artistic initiatives Kim Nguyen, recently sat down to talk about its vision and future plans.
What is the Ruth Foundation for the Arts?
The new foundation, which calls itself “midwestern at heart, and national in scope,” supports visual arts, performing arts and arts education. It launched in June with an endowment of $440 million and plans to ramp up to annual giving of $17 million or more. That annual amount would put the Ruth Foundation at the top of arts giving in the country, Joel Wachs, the president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, told The New York Times.
The Ruth Foundation was funded by a bequest from the late Ruth DeYoung Kohler II.
Who was Ruth DeYoung Kohler II?
The new foundation’s namesake, who died in 2020, was director of Sheboygan’s John Michael Kohler Arts Center from 1972 to 2016. Under her leadership, the JMKAC was recognized internationally as a leader in studying and preserving artist-built environments, such as the late Mary L. Nohl’s home in Fox Point, as well as selftaught and vernacular artists. Her passion projects included the Art Preserve in Sheboygan, which opened in 2021, a center for study and conservation of more than 25,000 pieces from art environments by 38 national and international artists.
She also was a major shareholder in privately held Kohler Co., which John Michael Kohler founded in 1873.
“She was a planner, but she was full of surprises,” said Patterson, who worked for Kohler from 2012 to 2019. When it came to art, “what she liked was something she never saw before.”
Patterson frequently quotes Kohler’s maxim, “All Arts for All the
People.”
Why is the foundation based in Milwaukee?
“We believe in the Midwest,” Patterson said. New York and Los Angeles are already home to many grantmaking organizations, she noted.
“Ruth crafted her career here, she grew up here,” Nguyen said.
Who runs the foundation?
Executive director Patterson is a former senior curator at John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Prior to taking the foundation position, she was curator and director of exhibitions at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia.
When Patterson worked for Ruth at the arts center, “we talked about ideas and exhibitions and artists and projects (but) we didn’t talk about the way that she gave privately … at all,” she said. So, after Ruth’s death, Patterson was surprised to be invited to apply to lead a new foundation.
Before joining the foundation staff, Nguyen was curator and head of programs at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco.
The Ruth Foundation recently hired Rachel Reichert as program director of sites and stewardship. Reichert had been cultural sites manager for the City of Boise’s Department of Arts and History in Idaho.
The foundation has a board of three trustees whom Patterson described as longtime close associates of Ruth Kohler.
How does the foundation choose grant recipients?
For the first round of giving, Patterson asked 25 artists to recommend three organizations that had an impact in artmaking and community building. She also asked those artists to recommend other artists, who in turn were asked to recommend organizations. The 78 recipients were chosen from the pool of organizations this process identified.
The foundation had initially planned to award 25 grants of $50,000 each. But the process identified worthy smaller organizations for which $10,000 could make a difference, Patterson said. So the first round of giving expanded to 78 groups with varying amounts of $10K, $25K and $50K.
Organizations were not told in advance they were being considered. The foundation only made happy surprise calls to inform groups they were receiving unrestricted grants. “What we learned right away is that unrestricted grants are magic,” Patterson said.
When asked why the foundation chose this method, rather than having organizations apply directly for funds, Patterson explained the philosophy behind the approach:
“Our intention is to put the decisionmaking in the hands of artists. By asking artists to select organizations that have impacted their lives, we empower them to be at the center of our mission and our planning.
“We wholeheartedly believe in artists. Artists as makers, as families, as community builders, as neighbors. We want to know where they feel appreciated and where their creative process shines. We were delighted to learn that many of the nominating artists felt this process allowed them to show support and gratitude. In turn, the organizations were extra delighted to learn that an artist in their community valued their work.”
All artists who served as scouts were compensated, and donations were also made to nonprofits of their choice in their names, Patterson said.
Going forward, the artist-nominated process will continue. The foundation also is developing another way to identify recipients for its pool, especially as it begins to support individual artists directly. It plans to make a round of grants each spring and fall.
What is the foundation looking for?
Many of the first grantees are involved in offering “time and space” for creativity, Nguyen said, such as residence spaces, production spaces and sites where artists can do research.
Also, many grantees work on equitable access and community building, trying to break down barriers that keep portions of the community from creativity, Nguyen said. The Rivers Institute and The Black School in New Orleans are examples of organizations where education, access and activism overlap with each other, she pointed out.
The foundation’s strong interest in place led it to support some institutions that are unique in their regions, such as Institute 193 in Lexington, Ky., a distinctive contemporary arts venue with the mission of documenting “the cultural landscape of the modern South,” especially outside of large metropolitan centers.
Will the foundation always make grants to Wisconsin groups?
Yes, Patterson said. The pool of potential grantees includes all the groups Ruth gave to historically, which includes many art environments in Wisconsin and other sites.
“I always think about the Midwest,” she said.
What other plans does the foundation have?
“In addition to supporting organizations, we want to support artists directly,” Nguyen said.
In announcing its opening round of grants, the foundation also stated that it wanted to develop a visiting artists program for arts schools and research grants for cultural workers.
Nguyen said the foundation not only wants to build relationship with organizations, it wants to help them connect with each other. As an example, Patterson pointed out that the first round of grantees included Milwaukee Film, the Seattle Asian American Film Festival and Philadelphia BlackStar Projects, which stages an annual film festival. Patterson sees connecting organizations with shared interests so they can bounce ideas off each other.
How can I find out more about the Ruth Foundation?
Visit the foundation website at rutharts.org.