Gift enables 'unparalleled engagements' at Broad Museum

February 24, 2024

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at MSU will benefit from a significant $7.5 million bequest gift from alumnus Alan Ross and his spouse, Rebecca Ross.

Their gift will further the impact of the existing Alan and Rebecca Ross Exhibition Endowment, which was established by the couple with a previous $1 million cash gift in 2014 to support the museum’s exhibition program.

The Alan and Rebecca Ross Education Wing in the Zaha Hadid-designed museum—an open, light-filled public programming space that hosts thousands of children, MSU students and adults each year—was named in their honor.

“It is deeply meaningful to have the support of Alan and Rebecca Ross, who are leaders in the arts community in Michigan and beyond,” said MSU Interim President Teresa K. Woodruff, Ph.D. “Their partnership is a tremendous asset as we grow and expand the MSU Arts strategy.”

Their generosity helps further the goals of the MSU Broad Art Museum’s exhibition program. The program presents innovative research, scholarship and interdisciplinary learning through a global roster of artists, grounded in dialogue with their growing permanent collection of works spanning from the ancient world to the present day.

The impact of the Rosses’ support for the arts at MSU also extends beyond the MSU Broad Art Museum. In 2022, the Rosses created the Alan and Rebecca Ross DIA Enrichment fund at MSU to strengthen collaborations between the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Department of Art, Art History and Design in MSU’s College of Arts and Letters.

 

“Words can hardly convey the magnitude and impact of this gift from Alan and Rebecca Ross and the ways it will shape an ever-brighter future for the MSU Broad Art Museum. Through the bolstering of their endowment, the museum’s exhibition program will grow significantly in the years ahead to provide unique, unparalleled engagements with art here on MSU’s campus. The museum stands to benefit greatly from this future gift, but the true beneficiaries are the many people whose lives will be enriched through the opportunities this gift will create.” – Steven Bridges, interim director of the Broad Art Museum

 

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (MSU Broad Art Museum) connects people with art through experiences that inspire curiosity and inquiry. Presenting exhibitions and programs that engage diverse communities around issues of local relevance and global significance, the MSU Broad Art Museum advances the university values of quality, inclusion, and connectivity. Opened on November 10, 2012, the museum was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid and named in honor of Eli and Edythe Broad, longtime supporters of the university who provided the lead gift for its creation.