The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative, founded in alignment with the values of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, is committed to environmental stewardship and supports the visual arts and arts education. As the leading private national initiative in the U.S. for combating climate change within the visual arts sector, it aims to inspire a sector-wide transition towards carbon-neutral operations, dedicating over $10 million towards this goal, as part of a five-year, $15-million commitment to climate change action.
The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative is a pioneering grant-making program in the U.S. aimed at addressing climate change through cultural institutions, particularly visual arts museums. It supports projects across three main categories: scoping grants for assessing energy and climate opportunities, technical assistance grants for project specification and budgeting, and implementation grants for actual project execution. The program is designed for visual arts-focused institutions of all sizes, encouraging applications that promise significant, innovative contributions to reducing institutional climate impact. Implementation grants, which can go up to $100,000, are especially competitive and fund projects that are forward-thinking and have the potential to catalyze broader change and investment in sustainable practices.