Lilly Endowment Awards $1 Million for Red Skelton Museum
Lilly Endowment Awards $1 Million for Red Skelton Museum
The Lilly Endowment has announced a $1 million grant to Vincennes University to support the development of exhibits for the university's planned Red Skelton Museum and Education Center.
Slated to open in 2013, the museum will feature the late entertainer's personal and show business memorabilia and will be part of VU's music and performing arts facility, which is dedicated in Skelton's memory. Opened in 2006, the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center includes an eight hundred-seat proscenium theater that hosts top national performing artists. Development of the museum represents a deepening of the partnership between VU and the Red Skelton Museum Foundation.
A capital campaign to fund the completion of the museum's interior, construct exhibits, fund museum operations, and establish an endowment has almost raised the $4.1 million needed to open the museum in 2013 — the hundredth anniversary of Skelton's birth.
"We have worked with endowment officials for over a decade on this project," said Phillip Summers, chair of the Red Skelton Foundation. "We deeply appreciate their help, advice, and significant contribution. It will greatly help in opening the door to the museum and in providing it with exhibits to illustrate the fascinating life of the legendary Red Skelton."
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