Posted on December 23, 2011

UC Davis Receives $10 Million Gift for New Art Museum

The University of California, Davis, has announced a $10 million gift from Jan Shrem of Clos Pegase winery in Napa Valley and his friend, international businesswoman Maria Manetti Farrow, for the university's new art museum.

The gift, part of the $1 billion Campaign for UC Davis, will enable the university to begin the design phase of the $30 million project. Scheduled to open in 2015, the 40,000-square-foot museum will house the university's fine arts collection, which comprises more than four thousand pieces, including several by former art department faculty. Part of a long-range plan to rebuild the university's south entrance, the museum, which will be named the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Farrow Museum of Art in recognition of the gift, will be constructed on a 1.6-acre site adjacent to the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the UC Davis Conference Center, and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall.

"The museum will build upon the university's long tradition of excellence in the arts, serve as a source of rich learning opportunities for our students, and provide inspiration to generations of artists," said UC Davis chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. "We are very grateful for this extraordinary commitment and for Jan and Maria's vision and partnership in the creation of a museum of art at UC Davis."