Philanthropy
Born poor, LeRoy Neiman became very successful and remarkably generous. During his lifetime, he and his wife, Janet Byrne Neiman, donated over $20 millionto art programs at universities and at community centers that support at-risk kids.
The LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation, which the Neimans founded in 1986, continues their philanthropic work. We provide funding for after-school community programs, university initiatives, and other educational efforts that foster interest in and love of art.
Following are descriptions of programs that the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation has supported and, in many cases, continues to support. For information regarding grant proposals, please read here.
Grant Request Information
The Foundation regularly receives and reviews proposals for grant requests. While the Foundation does not have rigid guidelines that determine groups that will receive funding, the information listed above gives a sense of the types of projects we support.
In reviewing grant proposals, the Foundation requires information regarding who will be served by the proposed grant, the percentage of the grant that will go directly to supporting arts programming and education, and what other organizations or programs are fulfilling arts education needs in the area where the grant seeker is based. We also consider requests relating to exhibitions and publications relevant to LeRoy Neiman’s life and work.
Grant applications should be submitted no less than nine months prior to the date that grant funding is needed.
Specifically, proposals for funding should include the following:
- A copy of the organization’s 501 ( c ) 3 ruling from the Internal Revenue Service
- A copy of the latest audited financial statements
- A copy of the latest form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service
- A letter describing the proposed project and the organization’s mission and goals and other funders
- The project’s budget
- The organization’s general operating budget
- Demographic information about the people served by the organization’s activities
Information may be submitted in paper form or digitally at:
info @ LeRoyNeimanFoundation.org
1 W. 67th St.
New York, NY 10023
The Foundation’s staff responds to grant requests three times a year.
LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies
School of the Arts Columbia University, New York City
https://www.neiman.arts.columbia.edu
1996: The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies was founded by a $6 million endowment from LeRoy and Janet Neiman to promote printmaking through education, production and exhibition of prints. The center is a serious printmaking studio and gallery that provides undergraduate and graduate Columbia University students facilities and instruction that allow them to investigate and produce images through a myriad of printmaking techniques which include intaglio, lithography, silkscreen, relief, photography, and digital imaging. Professional artists also work at the studios. Among those who have made editions at the Neiman Center are Jasper Johns, Sara Sze, Eric Fischl, Dana Schutz, and Shahzia Sikander, among others. Prints created at the Neiman Center are in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museums of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Walker Art Center.
2014: The LeRoy Neiman Foundation endowed a scholarship with $1.5 million to subsidize printmaker scholarships in the MFA Program and continue the success of the LeRoy Neiman Print Center.
Here are a few interviews with past LeRoy Neiman Fellows about their time at the Center for Print Studies.
LeRoy Neiman Center
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL
www.saic.edu/lifeatsaic/leroyneimancenter/
Both LeRoy and Janet Byrne Neiman studied at the SAIC, and Neiman received his degree in studio art from the School and taught there for 10 years: Janet Byrne was among his students. In the years preceding his death, the Neimans worked closely with the school to develop its scholarship programs and facilities:
2005: LeRoy and Janet Byrne Neiman donated $3 million to SAIC’s scholarship fund to increase support for both need-based and merit scholarships. Neiman subsequently taught master classes at various sites for Chicago high school students through SAIC’s Early College Program.
2010: the LeRoy Neiman Foundation donated an additional $1 million to support scholarships at the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency, Saugatuck, MI, which is affiliated with SAIC.
2011: the Neimans donated $5 million to fund the construction of a community campus center for SAIC students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The 17,800-square-foot LeRoy Neiman Center opened on May 7, 2012 and is home to the largest mural Neiman created – Summertime on the Indiana Dunes, a 56-foot-wide, 448-square-foot piece co-signed by the artist’s wife and completed in 1965 – which hangs in the lobby outside the center.
LeRoy Neiman Art Centers for Youth
Good Tidings Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Good Tidings is a children’s charity that looks to equally support arts, education, athletics and dreams for youth from communities of need in the Greater Bay Area. Good Tidings built the first LeRoy Neiman Art Center at New Traditions School in San Francisco in February of 2000 and later created additional LeRoy Neiman Art Studios. The current studios are located at— New Traditions School in San Francisco, Amesti School in Watsonville, De Marillac Academy in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto, Union Settlement in Harlem, the Rock Teen Center in Phoenix, Thomas Kelly High School in Chicago, East Oakland Youth Development Center , The Boy’s and Girl’s Club in SanFrancisco’s Mission District, Central High School in Louisville, Kentucky, Sol Collective in Sacramento, California and The Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose, California.