The museum at Framingham State University has received its largest-ever donation as the Danforth Art Museum and School has been gifted $4.66 million from a long-standing supporter.
The gift was made on behalf of the estate of late FSU trustee Susan Litowitz, who had donated to and advocated for the museum for the past 10 years.
As the Danforth Art Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the donation is organized to address four key objectives with the first three endowed: operations and programming in the museum’s Litowitz Family Gallery, educational programming, marketing and community engagement, and adult art student financial aid, according to a Monday press release from FSU.
“This gift creates significant opportunities for greater service to our MetroWest communities,” Noelle Fournier, FSU Art School director, said in the release. “These additional resources will allow us to enhance many of our existing programs as well as begin new initiatives.”
A graduate of Cornell University in New York, Litowitz owned graphic design businesses in both Lowell and Chicago and took classes at FSU’s Art School. She financially supported the museum as it moved to downtown Framingham and then to the city’s Centre Common, as well as its merger with FSU.
She passed in 2023.
“Institutions like Framingham State’s Danforth Art Museum and School play a vital role in enriching our communities, sparking creativity, and inspiring the next generation of artists and thinkers,” FSU President Nancy Niemi said in the release. “We are so grateful to Susan for helping us preserve and expand access to the transformative power of art. The impact of this gift will touch so many in our community.”
Founded in 1975, the Danforth Art Museum features more than 3,500 pieces of American art created in the 18th century through present day, according to the museum’s website. The museum hosts 400 yearly studio art courses through its school in addition to family workshops and artist lectures.
In addition to a series of visiting exhibits, the museum has a permanent collection, focusing on artists from the 19th and 20th centuries including Gilbert Stuart, Charles Sprague Pearce, and Faith Ringgold.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article said Susan Litowitz took classes at FSU’s art school and that Noelle Fournier is FSU’s art director. Instead, Litowitz took classes within the museum’s art school and Fournier is the art director of the art school director of the museum, not FSU.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
