The Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative | AEFI Welcomes New Foundation Leaders

Focused on the strategic considerations of those entering the Artist-Endowed Foundation field, whether as senior staff, board member, or advisor to an artist engaging in art stewardship planning, the Seminar is a biennial program, with the next edition scheduled in 2027.

Against the backdrop of multiple centennials celebrating the generation that has created the Artist-Endowed Foundation field as we know it today – Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis, and Robert Rauschenberg, to name a few, the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundation Initiative | AEFI is pleased to announce that 30 leaders affiliated with 26 Artist-Endowed Foundations, artists’ studios, and artists’ estates have completed the rigorous 2025 Seminar on Strategy for Artist-Endowed Foundation Leaders.

The Seminar was initiated in 2016 in response to the continued growth of the Artist-Endowed Foundation field (now estimated at 400 extant foundations holding more than $9 billion in FMV assets) and the desire for professional education opportunities on the part of those playing new roles creating, leading, and governing these unique institutions. Its curriculum focuses specifically on the strategic considerations of individuals entering the AEF field and is based on AEFI’s flagship research program, the National Study of Artist-Endowed Foundations, with findings first released in 2010 and updated at five-year intervals. Now a biennial program, the Seminar’s 2025 iteration is its seventh edition. Members of this graduating class, the largest to date, join more than 130 Seminar alumni active in and around the AEF community today.

Select Members of the 2025 Seminar Class:

• David Aldea, Treasurer, Tom of Finland Foundation
• Cathleen Chaffee, Art Stewardship Leader, Marisol Estate, Buffalo AKG Art Museum
• Joël Diaz, Programs Director, The Clifton House (Lucille & Fred Clifton)
• David Evans Frantz, Executive Director, Claire Falkenstein Foundation
• Suzanne Fricke, Advisor, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Foundation
• Kara Gilmour, Director, Janet Fish Foundation
• Louise Neri, Advisor, El Anatsui Foundation
• Jon S. Ott, Vice Chair, Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation
• Sarah Roberts, Senior Director of Curatorial Affairs, Joan Mitchell Foundation
• Berenice Sarafzadeh, Chief Operating Officer, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
• Kyla Searle, Senior Director of Operations, Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity
• Hedi Sorger, Executive Director, Peter Hujar Foundation
• Laura S. West, Advisor, Wyeth Foundation for American Art
• Alan Jay Williams, Advisor, John Burton Harter Foundation

Select Seminar Alumni:

• Justin Brancato, Executive Director, Toshiko Takaezu Foundation (2016)
• Rachel Churner, Director, Carolee Schneemann Foundation (2021)
• Charles Duncan, Executive Director, Richard Pousette-Dart Foundation (2016)
• Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director, Holt / Smithson Foundation (2018)
• Antonio David Lyons, Executive Director, Valerie J. Maynard Foundation (2023)
• Lissa McClure, Executive Director, Woodman Family Foundation (Betty, Francesca, George Woodman) (2019)
• Rebecca McGrew, Executive Director, Edward & Nancy Reddin Kienholz Foundation (2023)
• Musa Mayer, President, The Guston Foundation (2016)
• Steven Rose, President/Director, Emily Mason | Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation (2021)
• Mary Clare Stevens, Executive Director, Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts (2016)
• James Merle Thomas, Deputy Director, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation (2023)
• Michele Wallace, President, Anyone Can Fly Foundation (Faith Ringgold) (2021)
• Victoria Woodhull, President, Kenneth Noland Foundation (2017)
• Yoshito Yoshioka, Executive Director, One Million Years Foundation (On Kawara) (2016)

AEFI is a component of the Aspen Institute’s Program on Philanthropy & Social Innovation. It functions as a collegial learning community, bringing together foundation leaders to ask questions, gather information, and share lessons learned about effective practices and policies that are key to building the fast-growing Artist-Endowed Foundation field’s charitable impact in art stewardship and in cultural philanthropy .

The Seminar on Strategy for Artist-Endowed-Foundation Leaders is AEFI’s professional education program for those entering the Artist-Endowed Foundation field, either as executive leaders or board members or as individuals supporting artists in their long-term art stewardship planning potentially involving foundation creation. More than 50 AEF leaders serve as faculty members for each Seminar, alongside scholars and expert service providers. As such, the Seminar stands as an act of great generosity on the part of the AEF community and its friends, welcoming new members and colleagues.

For further information, contact Christine J. Vincent, AEFI Managing Director.