WILLIAMSTOWN—The Williams College Museum of Art has received a grant from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to implement Direct Digital Controls (DDC) in the new museum building to optimize the energy efficiency of the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system.
WCMA was one of 69 arts organizations across the country selected to receive a grant through the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative (FCI), which conferred a total of $3.3M this year. Dedicated to advancing climate action in the visual arts, FCI supports a wide range of transformative energy-efficiency and environmental sustainability projects that help arts organizations assess, develop, and implement plans that reduce environmental impacts and operational costs and promote clean energy generation. The 2024 cohort of grantees also includes the first recipients of the Catalyst Grant, which funds short-term projects for organizations that are often at earlier stages of their climate action trajectory.
Funds will be used to implement Direct Digital Controls (DDC) in the new WCMA building to optimize the energy efficiency of the building’s HVAC system, allowing for centralized control and monitoring of all art spaces and HVAC equipment and ensuring reduced energy consumption and improved performance. By providing precise control of seasonal setpoints for temperature and humidity, the DDC system will create a stable environment for sensitive artwork while reducing carbon emissions.
Scheduled to open in 2027, the new WCMA will enhance the museum’s role as a creative catalyst for the college and the Berkshires. The new building project emphasizes sustainability and energy efficiency, addressing the climate impact of the museum with advanced solutions and striving for the highest measures of sustainability.
“We are aiming to achieve the International Living Futures Institute (ILFI) Living Building Challenge (LBC) Core 4.0, a very ambitious sustainability certification that aims to require as little as 30 percent of the current baseline energy usage for art museums,” said Pamela Franks, the Class of 1956 Director of WCMA. “One advancement in sustainable practices in the museum field is a recognition of the benefits of maintaining a preservation environment through the use of seasonally-fluctuating temperature and humidity setpoints instead of the traditional requirements of fixed set points that are more energy intensive over time. Achieving the sustainability goals while participating in this advancement in the field, WCMA will be able to incorporate this ethos into the teaching and learning that occurs here as part of the training of future arts leaders.”
Throughout the United States, the 2024 recipients range in size, scale and mission, including non-collecting institutions such as Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) (Massachusetts), MoMA PS1 (New York), Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (Missouri), and the New Museum (New York); nonprofits such as The Kitchen (New York), The Swiss Institute (New York), Storefront for Art and Architecture (New York), and The Chinati Foundation (Texas); art schools and university museums such as Rhode Island School of Design (Rhode Island), New Mexico Highlands University Foundation (New Mexico), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois); museums such as Seattle Art Museum (Washington); and community art centers such as Racing Magpie (South Dakota); among many others. The full listing of 2024 grantees can be found here.
“The Foundation is delighted with the advancements in environmental sustainability spearheaded by our partners through the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative,” said Lise Motherwell, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. “With its newest round of grantees, FCI has supported over two hundred visual arts organizations to date and is leading the way in tangible climate action.”
“Over the last four years, FCI grantees have developed and implemented groundbreaking climate focused initiatives, inspiring a surge in applications and more ambitious projects,” added Elizabeth Smith, Executive Director of the Foundation. “Extending the Foundation’s full range of grantmaking activities, FCI upholds Helen Frankenthaler’s legacy and cultivates a future where our peer organizations in the visual arts lead the way in creating a more sustainable world.”
Created and overseen by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in partnership with RMI and Environment & Culture Partners, FCI has expanded its impact and reach since its inception in 2021, with broadened eligibility criteria and consecutive increases in its funding over the years, from the initial $5M pledge to the current $15M commitment. Among the first grantmaking initiatives promoting energy efficiency and clean energy generation at art organizations, FCI now includes projects at over 200 institutions across 37 states in the United States.
The application process for the next grantmaking cycle is expected to open in spring 2025.
About the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative
Created and overseen by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in partnership with RMI and Environment & Culture Partners, The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative is the first nationwide program to support energy efficiency and clean energy use for the visual arts and the largest private national grantmaking program to address climate change action through cultural institutions. The $15-million ongoing initiative provides critical support to visual arts organizations in the United States seeking to assess their impact on the environment and to lower ongoing energy costs. The Foundation has conferred more than $14.1 million since its launch in 2021, supporting 244 energy efficiency and clean energy projects at 200 institutions across 37 states in the United States. For more information, visit frankenthalerclimateinitiative.org.
About the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation
Established and endowed by Helen Frankenthaler during her lifetime, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation advances the artist’s legacy and inspires a new generation of practitioners through a range of philanthropic, educational, and research initiatives. Since becoming active in 2013, the Foundation has continued to strategically expand its program, which includes organizing and supporting significant exhibitions of the artist’s work, fostering new research and publications, advancing educational programs in partnership with arts organizations around the world, and launching groundbreaking initiatives that foster systemic change in the field. As a primary resource on the artist, and a steward of her collection and archive, the Foundation holds an extensive selection of Frankenthaler’s work in a variety of mediums, her collection of works by other artists, and original papers and materials pertaining to her life and work.
About Williams College Museum of Art
The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) creates and inspires transformative experiences that are integral to a liberal arts education, lifelong learning, and human connection. The museum catalyzes cross-disciplinary inquiry through art; advances the academic and experiential preparation of arts leaders; enriches the cultural ecosystem of the Berkshires; engages artists; and creates a learning community that spurs new thinking, creative activity, and civic engagement. WCMA draws on the diverse perspectives and collaborative ethos of the College to enliven the more than 15,000 works in its growing collection.
Plans are now in progress to construct WCMA’s first purpose-built home, designed by the internationally recognized Brooklyn-based firm SO–IL. The design, unveiled in March 2024, blends sustainable, living architecture with the Berkshires landscape while creating a teaching museum for the entire campus and a prominent new gateway to the College and Williamstown. The new WCMA is projected to open in 2027.
Currently located in Lawrence Hall on Main Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on the Williams College campus, the museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit artmuseum.williams.edu.