Program Aims
Advancing the role of the visual arts in a more open and equitable society
We believe in the power of visual art to spark dialogue that celebrates creativity, explores difference, and forges common ground. Through our support for museum projects that foreground diverse experiences and perspectives, the Henry Luce Foundation empowers institutions to challenge accepted histories, elevate underrepresented voices, and promote critical conversations. We embrace the role of American art and art collections in realizing more vibrant and empathetic communities.
Recently Awarded Exhibitions
The annual exhibition competition supports exhibitions on American art across time periods and media.
American Art Program by the Numbers - 2023
Recent Grants
40th Anniversary Celebration
Conversations on American Art and Museums
Since 1982, the American Art Program has supported wide-ranging collection projects and exhibitions at art museums in all 50 states. In commemoration of the program’s 40th anniversary, the Foundation is partnering with the New-York Historical Society on a year-long series of virtual conversations moderated by field leaders and Luce grantees, past and present. With an eye toward the future, the participants will explore the role of the visual arts in an open and equitable society, and the capacity of art museums to challenge accepted histories, elevate under-represented voices, and host the critical conversations in which we need to engage.
Program Administrators
Terry previously worked as a curator at the Brooklyn Museum from 1985 to 2015, overseeing the American Art collections from 2005 to 2015 as Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art. She was principal author of American Paintings in the Brooklyn Museum: Artists Born by 1876, winner of the College Art Association's Alfred H. Barr Prize, and project director for the innovative collection installation American Identities: A New Look (2001). Terry's curatorial projects included the exhibitions Eastman Johnson: Painting America; Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties; John Singer Sargent Watercolors; and Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties. She was the 2014 recipient of the Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art, presented by the Smithsonian Institution's Archive of American Art. Terry completed her graduate work at the University of Delaware (M.A.) and the CUNY Graduate Center (Ph.D.).
Jackie Edwards is currently a doctoral student in Art History at the CUNY Graduate Center. Prior to beginning her studies at CUNY, she was Assistant Curator at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, TX, where she co-curated Transamerica/n: Gender, Identity, Appearance Today, which was organized with Luce Foundation support, and other exhibition projects as wide-ranging as Dario Robleto: Ancient Beacons Long for Notice and To See is to Have: Discovering Today's Art Ecosystem. Prior to her tenure at the McNay, she completed an MA in Art History and Criticism at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and a BA at Fordham University, where she was an Honors Program double major in Art History and Theology.
