Art Institute of Chicago partners with Government of India for exhibit
The Art Institute of Chicago became the first U.S. museum to receive a grant from the Government of India. The Art Institute hosted an Indian delegation on Saturday, January 28th, to sign an agreement for the Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence. The $500,000 grant honors Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda, who spoke at the Art Institute during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
The grant from the Government of India is part of a new professional exchange program between the museum and the country. The goal of the four-year program is to foster a professional partnership between the Art Institute and museums in India, and an agreement with the University of Chicago to establish a Vivekananda Chair for Indian studies. During the four years, the Art Institute will serve as a standard and resource centre for museum professionals in India. In addition, groups of Art Institute staff members will visit India on a regular basis, to conduct workshops and seminars, deliver lectures, and take courses. The Art Institute will also host fellowships in Chicago for Indian museum professionals.
The Ministry of Finance in India had earlier announced that the establishment of the Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence is in honor of Swami Vivekananda - an Indian poet, musician, playwright and philosopher. The program also has particular meaning because on Sept. 11, 1893, Swami Vivekananda gave a landmark lecture on religious freedom, at the first World's Parliament on Religion, at a building which is now the Art Institute. The grant is in honor of the historic address made by Vivekananda at the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893 through which he introduced Hinduism in the United States. He began his landmark speech with "Sisters and brothers of America" and made a passionate plea for religious tolerance. The famous lecture on September 11, 1893 is a shining moment in India's cultural history. The Art Institute's ceremony also included the unveiling of the Swami Vivekananda Memorial Plaque along with the inauguration of exhibitions of Rabindranath Tagore Paintings.
"It is a supreme honor to be recognized by the Government of India as a partner in the preservation, exhibition, and promotion of India's cultural heritage," said Douglas Druick, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute. "This rededication of the site of Swami Vivekananda's speech and the Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence is both living testaments to the long relationship between the Art Institute and India, going back to the earliest days of the museum's history. Over the years our partnership has flourished, and we are gratified by and excited for what will be a milestone in our collaboration," he further added.
