NSU Art Museum Receives $1.5 Million Gift for Exhibitions
February 9, 2026 | In the PressFrom NOVA Newsroom (https://news.nova.edu/news-releases/nsu-art-museum-receives-1-5-million-gift-for-exhibitions/)
The Jerry Taylor and Nancy Bryant Foundation has given NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale a $1.5 million gift dedicated to providing an ongoing source of income to help cover the costs associated with developing, organizing, and presenting exhibitions that provide meaningful content for the museum’s educational programs.
“We thank Nancy and Jerry for recognizing the crucial role the museum’s exhibitions play in distinguishing it regionally and nationally,” said Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator for the museum. “The couple are true visionaries who have made multiple strategic donations to the museum. Through their deep engagement with the museum since 2014, they have provided significant support that has had a profound impact on the museum’s growth and stability.”
Philanthropists Jerry Taylor and Nancy Bryant started their foundation in 1999 when Taylor retired as CEO of MCI Communications Corporation. Bryant has more than two decades in association management and was executive director of The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.
The couple – who have focused their giving on higher education, community services, and the arts – have taken a particular interest in supporting Nova Southeastern University and its vision.
In 2022, Taylor and Bryant were inducted into the NSU Fellows Society Sharks Circle, which honors those whose cumulative giving to the university has reached $1 million or more.
In May 2024, NSU’s H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship celebrated the opening of the Jerry Taylor and Nancy Bryant Trading Floor, made possible by a $5 million donation by the couple.
Housed on the second floor of the Carl DeSantis Building, the trading floor supports students’ work with the Student-Managed Investment Fund. The floor features a conference room, a classroom/lab with 30 student stations, and a streaming real-time LED stock ticker to keep students abreast of the ever-changing financial markets.
“Nancy and Jerry’s philanthropic support of the university has not only fueled efforts to connect the community to the arts but also funded the construction of a state-of-the-art trading floor in the Carl DeSantis Building for the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship and established an endowment to support student activities in the business field,” said NSU President and CEO Harry K. Moon. “Their latest gift will have a profound effect on the museum’s ability to continue to bring world-class exhibitions to NSU, the South Florida community, and beyond.”
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, founded in 1958, is a premier destination for exhibitions and programs encompassing many facets of civilization’s visual history. NSU Art Museum is known as the permanent home of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Surrounded Islands documentation exhibition, the epic public art project the artist duo created for Miami’s Biscayne Bay in 1983, and for its significant collection of Latin American art, contemporary art and photography, the largest holdings of works by American realist William Glackens, and the largest collection in a U.S. museum of the European CoBrA group of artists. For information, please visit nsuartmuseum.org or call 954-525-5500.
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is the largest private research university in Florida and a top employer in the state, with more than $6.7 billion in projected economic impact. NSU is classified as an R1 institution by the Carnegie Foundation among universities with the highest level of research activity. Visit www.nova.edu.
