The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago got a big contribution of $10 million today from one its most high-profile trustees, Ken Griffin.
Billionaire Griffin, a Chicagoan who made his fortune in hedge funds, has been much in the local headlines in recent months because of very public, very messy and very protracted divorce proceedings from Anne Dias Griffin, whom he married more than a decade ago. Griffin, who earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard College, is the founder and CEO of the Chicago-based hedge fund and financial services firm Citadel.
Part of Griffin's gift to the MCA will go toward a redevelopment of the Museum's fourth floor exhibition halls, which will be renamed the Griffin Galleries of Contemporary Art. The remaining portion of Griffin's gift will go into the MCA's $64-million Vision capital campaign officially announced today.
MCA executives said that, including Griffin's gift, $60 million of the total $64 million already has been raised from private donors. The majority of monies being raised for the Vision campaign will support the Museum's ongoing programming.
In yet another move announced today, the MCA said it has hired the Dutch design firm Mevis & Van Deursen to develop a new brand identity for the Museum, the first since the Museum moved in 1996 into its very modern home just off North Michigan Avenue at 220 E. Chicago Ave.
The MCA said in coming months it will unveil a new logo, website, publications, signage and other collateral. Mevin & Van Deursen's previous clients have included the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
And final, the MCA said today it has hired the architectural firm Johnston Marklee to reimagine the museum's entire layout, including a new restaurant on the ground floor that would open in May of 2016. The MCA's current restaurant on the second floor will become a site specifically designed for interactive exhibits.
All of the projects and the Griffin gift announced today come in the wake of the MCA's most successful exhibit ever — a retrospective of rock musician and performance artist David Bowie's career that ended its run in early January.
The MCA's fourth floor exhibit halls will be renamed the Griffin Galleries of Contemporary Art.
A David Bowie exhibition that recently ended its run at the MCA broke all attendance records.