The foundation initiated the Terra Collection-in-Residence program in 2022, reenvisioning how the Terra Foundation Collection is shared by providing extended loans and programmatic support to a range of museums, thereby fostering interdisciplinary research and teaching on American art. The program creates new contexts for the foundation’s collection, expanding access and audiences while fostering conversations and building networks among participating museums. In 2023, the foundation solidified its commitment to ethical and philosophical principles by supporting projects aligned with the American Missionary Association of New York (AMA). This integrated antislavery and anti-caste organization dates back to the 1830s, and in the twentieth century was focused on the intersectionality of American art and global relations, primarily centered in the American South. Foundation associations in resonance with the AMA’s work and mission include the Amistad Research Center, The New School, Hampton University, and the David C. Driskell Center. Additional strategic initiatives covered by this report follow the guidance of the foundation’s Indigenous Advisory Council, invest in Chicago’s arts ecosystem, and facilitate dialogues about American art in global contexts.
Art Design Chicago, in its second iteration, was dedicated to highlighting Chicago’s extraordinary art histories and creative communities. Between 2022 and 2025, the initiative encompassed seventy-nine organizations, fifty-four exhibitions, and nearly three hundred events. These make up the Art Design Chicago capstone, and the foundation remains dedicated to partnering with Chicago artists and organizations to advance our mission in ways indebted to the legacy of this initiative. Likewise, the foundation’s sites in France—our offices in Paris and our convening space in Giverny—are key touchstones for our evolving global work.
On our website, this letter opens the report and is followed by a map of our partners’ geographies. We then highlight examples of projects supported by the Terra Foundation between July 2022 and June 2025, through both our grant application programs and our strategic initiatives. We similarly focus on the Terra Foundation Collection and the ways it is activated through loans and research, and how the collection has grown through strategic acquisitions and co-stewardship. This publication also features a comprehensive list of our grantmaking between 2022 and 2025 and financial information from these years. Last but certainly not least, we are honored to acknowledge the Terra Foundation’s people. We share this representation of our recent work and foreground the impact of our extraordinary grantee partners, with whom we have sought to expand histories of American art, transform practices, and create meaningful connections between cultures and communities.