ST. LOUIS, MO.- The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis announced the receipt of a major grant of $35,000 from the William E. Weiss Foundation. This grant provides funding to support a variety of activities associated with the production of exhibitions throughout the 2009-2010 season.

“We are grateful for the William E. Weiss Foundation’s generous support of our exhibition programs,” said Director of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis Paul Ha. “Its support has enabled us to produce more ambitious shows that have been increasingly recognized by our colleagues and in the national press, which, in turn, has contributed to our growing reputation as one of the leading contemporary art organizations in the country.”

The William E. Weiss Foundation supports education, health, and human services, the arts and civic improvements. At the Contemporary, funding from this grant will support a variety of exhibition-related activities, including the production and the printing and distribution of exhibition gallery guides, which are provided to the public free of charge. These educational tools are fundamental to the Contemporary’s efforts to make contemporary art exhibitions more accessible to a wide range of audiences.

“Due to the current economic downturn and funding for the arts being cut, the Foundation felt it was more important than ever to support important community partners like the Contemporary.” said Dwyer Brown, trustee of the William E. Weiss Foundation and member of the Contemporary’s Board of Directors.

The Contemporary exhibitions change three times a year in the Main Galleries and more often in The Front Room. Visitors to the Contemporary often see new work each time they come into the museum, and since for each installation walls are built or taken down, visitors also see an entirely new space, making their experience different each time.

THE MAIN GALLERIES
The Contemporary’s Main Galleries program proposes a kunsthalle model of artist centered exhibitions featuring newly commissioned works, large-scale, site-specific installations, surveys of existing works, and significant publications. Exhibitions supported by the William E. Weiss Foundation grant include: For the blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there (September 11, 2009 – January 3, 2010); Sean Landers and Stephen Prina (January 22 – April 4, 2010); and Great Rivers Biennial 2010 (April 23 – August 1, 2010).

THE FRONT ROOM
Funding from the William E. Weiss Foundation will also support The Front Room, a white-cube gallery inside the Contemporary’s lobby that operates at an accelerated pace. These shorter projects (ranging from an hour-long performance to a three-week exhibition) offer more reactive, nimble, and provisional work and are by lesser established and younger artists. The 2009-2010 Front Room season will offer works from a diverse group of artists from around the world.