SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 30, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Mexican Museum, the premier West Coast museum of Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Latin American, and Latino art, culture and heritage, announces the confirmation of two newly-named galleries for its future home at 706 Mission Street in the heart of the Yerba Buena Gardens Art District: the Diego Rivera Gallery and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Gallery.
Long-time supporters and Museum trustees, Guadalupe Rivera Marin, daughter of internationally-acclaimed artist Diego Rivera, and Ann Rockefeller Roberts, daughter of Nelson A. Rockefeller, a devoted art collector and patron of the arts, former Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States, have agreed to endorse respective $3 million capital campaigns for the galleries to be named in honor of their fathers.
The capital campaigns for the new Diego Rivera and Nelson A. Rockefeller Galleries will be run in conjunction with ongoing fundraising efforts for The Mexican Museum's new facilities, the groundbreaking of which will begin in July 2015. The galleries are the first two of 13 galleries that will be named and showcased in the new Museum home.
Guadalupe Rivera Marin formally pledged her support of The Mexican Museum in September, when she agreed to serve as co-chair of the Museum's Arts and Letters Council with Edward James Olmos and become an honorary member of the Board of Trustees. She believes that her renowned artist-father would endorse The Mexican Museum's building program because of his strong historical ties to the San Francisco Bay Area.
"I have always believed that The Mexican Museum's plans for building a new, more expansive permanent home are very admirable and deserving of my support," said Rivera Marin. "I am proud to have my name, and the name of my father, associated with the Museum and its ever-growing inventory of culturally-significant and historically-important collections."
Due to the devotion of The Mexican Museum founder, Peter Rodriguez, to the arts and culture of Mexico, and due to the high quality of the exhibitions and educational programs he developed, Rockefeller Roberts was inspired to gift a large portion of her father's collection to the young Museum in 1985. These exhibitions and educational programs represented the state-of-the-art in the field, according to Rockefeller Roberts.
"Once completed, The Mexican Museum's new permanent home will attract an even broader range of national and international audiences, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Latino culture in the United States and around the world," said Rockefeller Roberts. "I am extremely honored to be a part of this important endeavor, and I look forward to experiencing the new Gallery named in honor of my father."
"We are delighted that these first two named galleries will increase the Museum's capital campaign to $40 million," said Andrew M. Kluger, Board Chair of The Mexican Museum. "Our goal in the next year is to secure at least four more named galleries in order to meet our capital campaign goal of an additional $12 million in 2015."
The Mexican Museum is currently preparing for the construction of its permanent home, which is expected to open in 2018. People are encouraged to support The Mexican Museum by becoming new members, or by joining the Builders' Society online or by mailing a check to: The Mexican Museum, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Boulevard, Building D, San Francisco, CA 94123. For more information on the Builders' Society, please contact Adriana Lopez at (415) 202-9700.
About The Mexican Museum:
Founded by the well-known San Francisco artist Peter Rodriguez in 1975 in the heart of the Mission District, The Mexican Museum is located at Fort Mason Center. It is the realization of his vision to present the aesthetic expression of the Mexican and Mexican American people. Today, the museum's vision has expanded to include the full scope of the Mexican, Chicano and Latino experience – including the arts, history and heritage of their respective cultures
In 2012, The Mexican Museum became an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the nation's largest museum network. The museum currently has a permanent collection of more than 15,500 objects reflecting Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, Popular, Modern and Contemporary Mexican, Mexican-American, Latin American, Latino, and Chicano art.
The Mexican Museum is open Wednesday - Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., located at Fort Mason Center, Building D, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, in San Francisco. FREE Admission. The Museum offers a wide variety of programs, including Family Sundays, exhibitions, special events, lectures and public programming throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, please visit: http://www.mexicanmuseum.org or call (415) 202-9700.