| Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts | |
| Type: | Non-profit organization |
| Founded: | 1956 |
| Location: | Madlener House
|
The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit[1] that "fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realizes this vision through making project-based grants to individuals and organizations and producing exhibitions, events, and publications."[2]
It is located in the Madlener House in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.[3] As of 2018, the Graham Foundation has awarded over 4,400 grants.[4]
The Graham foundation provides two types of grants to individuals: Production and Presentation Grants and Research and Development Grants.[5] Grantees are chosen based on four criteria: originality, potential for impact, feasibility, and capacity. Part of the Graham Foundation's mission includes supporting the developing careers of grantees and enabling projects that would not otherwise be possible.[6] The Graham Foundation's 11-member Board of Trustees selects the cohort of grantees each year. Current and former board members include John Ronan and Theaster Gates.[7]
Grantee projects range from interactive exhibitions and workshops to books and documentary films. Past projects include a photographic survey of Le Corbusier’s completed works and an online oral history of housing construction for homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS in New York City.[8] The Graham Foundation has supported the publication of several field-defining architecture books, Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture and Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York among them.[9]
In July 2020, The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts reported a total of 52 awards worth $320,800.[10] Grants will fund important projects tackling and shaping the future of architecture and the developed environment.[11]
The Graham Foundation aims to foster dialogue and expand the audience around architecture and its impacts on society and culture.[12] To that end, the organization hosts galleries, an outdoor collection of architectural fragments, an archive of grantee publications, and a ballroom for lectures and events open to the public.[13] Notable architects including Rem Koolhaas, Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi, Buckminster Fuller, and Louis Kahn have lectured and held exhibitions there.[14]
The Graham Foundation Bookshop, also located in the Madlener house, houses grant-funded titles, international periodicals, and rare publications on architecture, urbanism, and related fields.[15]