Lipschultz pictures assortment fuels arts schooling and engagement at Vanderbilt | Dare To Grow

 Jennifer and Marc Lipschultz have dedicated a landmark assortment of practically 5,000 pictures, that includes work from lots of of photographers together with Bill Owens, Danny Lyon, Berenice Abbott, Lalla Essaydi and Dorothy Norman, to the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art. In addition to its distinctive emphasis on photojournalism—together with iconic wire press photographs from WWII, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement and past—the gathering additionally spans city road pictures, portraits and different themes that are perfect for inspiring scholar immersion and a variety of programming. 

The donor’s most up-to-date reward of two,917 pictures, mixed with the 1,878 pictures they pledged on the finish of 2024, has a price of roughly $17 million and solidifies VUMA’s place as a regional chief in pictures and works on paper. In addition, the gathering will catalyze new alternatives for educating, analysis and public engagement throughout the humanities whereas additionally advancing the continuing momentum of the college’s historic Dare to Grow marketing campaign, which has exceeded $3.5 billion with 9 months nonetheless remaining earlier than the marketing campaign’s shut.

The Lipschultz household has additionally given funding to help the cataloging and digitization of their pictures, which characteristic artists from the nineteenth by way of the twenty first centuries, to make sure that college students, school and the neighborhood can entry and have interaction with these vital works.

“The Lipschultz collection expands how art can deepen our understanding of an ever-changing world,” stated Vanderbilt Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver. “This transformational gift will ignite new scholarship and dialogue across our campus and strengthen Vanderbilt’s position as a national leader in arts education and engagement.” 

The reward comes at a pivotal second for VUMA, which was already house to the most important assortment of artwork within the state of Tennessee and one of the crucial in depth collections of works on paper within the Southeast. With this reward, VUMA now has one of many largest collections of pictures within the area as effectively. In current years, the museum has skilled vital progress in curatorial employees, scholar immersion alternatives and general programming, together with the present exhibition, Paper Backs: Hidden Stories of European Prints from VUMA’s Collection, which is on view till Dec. 7, 2025.  

“This transformational gift will ignite new scholarship and dialogue across our campus and strengthen Vanderbilt’s position as a national leader in arts education and engagement.”

In addition to increasing the museum’s everlasting assortment, the Lipschultz pictures will improve quite a lot of far-reaching academic initiatives—together with artwork historical past programs on the College of Arts and Science, hands-on analysis alternatives for college kids in partnership with Special Collections and University Archives, in addition to different campus collaborations.

The generosity of New York City–based mostly donors Jennifer and Marc Lipschultz, who had no official ties to Vanderbilt prior to creating this reward, additionally exemplifies the facility of “unaffiliated” donors. Marc, who’s the Diermeier and listening to about his imaginative and prescient to make Vanderbilt the good college of the twenty first century.  

“We are impressed by how boldly Vanderbilt is thinking about the future of higher education and expanding the definition of what it can encompass,” Lipschultz stated. “Jennifer and I are confident that our photographs are in good hands under Chancellor Diermeier and Provost Raver’s vision for the arts, innovation and discovery at large.” 

As Vanderbilt’s world popularity and influence continues to soar, there are numerous alternatives for unaffiliated donors—in addition to Vanderbilt alumni, dad and mom and households—to participate within the Dare to Grow marketing campaign, which continues to drive help that can advance the college within the close to time period and for a few years to return. Both monetary presents and illiquid belongings, equivalent to collectibles or artworks, will considerably advance Vanderbilt’s academic mission—fueling radical collaboration throughout disciplines and enriching the coed expertise for generations to return.

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Dare to Grow

The Lipschultz’s visionary funding within the arts fuels the momentum of Vanderbilt’s Dare to Grow marketing campaign, which surpassed its initial goal in November 2024 and has already exceeded $3.5 billion. Support for the Dare to Grow marketing campaign catalyzes some of the college’s most groundbreaking initiatives, together with the Institute of National Security, Vandy United, Vanderbilt’s enhanced presences in New York City and West Palm Beach, signature packages like Opportunity Vanderbilt, and plenty of extra.