In the next few years, expect nearly 40 exhibitions featuring the work of Andy Warhol as a result of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts distributing last of its holdings. The final 14,000 pieces, mostly previously unseen photographic material and prints, were donated with the stipulation that the recipients would exhibit their gifts within 5 years.  Since the Foundation’s inception, over 52,000 Warhol works of art have been given to 322 institutions, museums and colleges and universities spanning 48 states and 10 foreign countries.

The Foundation was founded when illustrator Andy Warhol died unexpectedly on February 22, 1987, at the age of 58 from heart failure following a gall bladder surgery. His will stated that that his unsold artwork and copyright earnings would go to toward “the advancement of the visual arts”. Its major first act was to bequest the artist’s key creations to establish the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, Warhol’s hometown.

Originally, grants were awarded in three areas: arts education, historic preservation, and curatorial. In later years, the first two categories were gradually phased out, allowing the Foundation to concentrate on the curatorial program. In 2012, the decision was made to focus strictly on making grants to nonprofit art organizations and art writers. According to the Foundation President Joel Wachs, the endowment stands at $285 million and generates about $14 million a year for grants and expects that the revenues generated by the art sales, investment gains and earnings from licensing Warhol’s images for commercial use would increase its annual grant making to between $18 million and $20 million.

Go to Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts  to find out more about this organization and its grant opportunities.

Note: In collaboration the Andy Warhol and Walt Disney Museums, the Norman Rockwell Museum will present Inventing America: Disney, Rockwell, Warhol on June 3 through October 29, 2017.