Skip to content
View of the sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. August 2007 photo by Gryffindor.

MacArthur fund gives Hirshhorn $500K for digital education

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson
View of the sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. August 2007 photo by Gryffindor.
View of the sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. August 2007 photo by Gryffindor.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum is receiving a $500,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to create a digital learning center for young people on the National Mall.

The modern and contemporary art museum announced the gift Tuesday from the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The Hirshhorn also will receive a $50,000 technology grant from the video game industry’s philanthropic arm.

The museum is creating a “21st-century classroom” through its ARTLAB+ initiative to allow young people to actively create artistic content like a professional design studio, rather than passively observing art.

Earlier this year, the Hirshhorn shared in a $2.2 million gift from the Pearson Foundation and Nokia to support learning through mobile technology.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-CS-12-07-10 1704EST