Colby Set for Museum Expansion After Capital Campaign Exceeds Expectations

In 2007, the Colby Museum of Art announced that it would receive one of the most important collections of American art ever given to a liberal arts college from Peter and Paula Lunder, who felt strongly that the art should be accessible to the people of Maine. To accomplish that goal, Colby needed a new exhibition space, and the campaign’s capstone gift, $5 million from the Portland, Maine-based Harold Alfond Foundation, will fund a major portion of a museum expansion to house the Lunder Collection.

The new gallery space is part of a $15-million, 26,000-square-foot expansion scheduled to break ground in mid-2011 for completion in 2013, Colby’s bicentennial year. It will allow many important pieces in the Lunder Collection to be exhibited, including works by James McNeill Whistler, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, and many other American masters.

Colby College exceeded its $370-million capital campaign goal June 30, raising a total of $376-million in the largest fundraising campaign in Maine’s history. The Reaching the World Campaign, begun in 2005 under Colby President William D. Adams, was mounted to support financial aid, facilities, and the academic experience.

The full press release can be found within the press section of the Colby website.