Gibbes Museum receives $250k grant for storage improvements
July 26, 2014 | In the PressFrom The Post and Courier (http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140726/PC12/140729527/1177/gibbes-museum-receives-250k-grant-for-storage-improvements)
The Gibbes Museum of Art has received a $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that will help improve the museum's storage facilities for its permanent collection.
The facilities will be expanded as part of a $13.4 million renovation project, set to begin this fall.
The museum now displays between 2 percent and 4 percent of its permanent collection at a time, rotating pieces every six months but storing the vast majority of the collection.
After the 16-month renovation is complete, there will be more space to display and store pieces from the collection.
"The storage project is at the core of our renovation design to ensure long-term, energy-efficient, sustainable preservation upon the collection's return," said Zinnia Willits, director of collections administration, in a museum release.
Willits also served as the project manager for the grant.
The second and third floors of the museum will be dedicated to permanent and visiting collections, while the first will have classrooms and studio space for community programming.
The storage facility expansion will include the installation of storage furniture in a new collections suite, according the release.
