Posted on November 20, 2012

Warhol, Rauschenberg, Lambent Foundations Commit $2 Million for Sandy Relief

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Robert Rauschenberg and Lambent foundations have announced commitments to assist nonprofit arts organizations and artists affected by Superstorm Sandy.

The Warhol Foundation will allocate $2 million to recovery efforts — $1 million for visual arts organizations and $1 million for individual artists in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut — while the Rauschenberg and Lambent foundations will augment those funds. The Warhol and Rauschenberg foundations will make grants to nonprofit arts groups through an emergency fund, with the Warhol Foundation giving to visual arts organizations and the Rauschenberg Foundation to other organizations. All three foundations will pool their assets to assist individual artists through the New York Foundation for the Arts.

The grants are being made possible in part by the Warhol Foundation's decision to sell its holdings of the artist's work, including the first of a series of auctions at Christie's that reportedly generated $17 million for the foundation.

"Every effort helps in a state of emergency — we are struck by the scope of need," said Rauschenberg Foundation executive director Christy MacLear. "Pooling our resources with other artist foundations will help simplify the points of access for both artists and organizations — hopefully making the process of request as simple as possible for those hardest hit."