The Des Moines Art Center received a $26,200 grant from Every Page Foundation to support conservation work, expand public access, and introduce girls and young women to careers in art and science.
The Des Moines Art Center has received a $26,200 grant from Every Page Foundation to support art conservation and educational outreach focused on women and girls. According to the institution, the funding will help restore works by women artists included in a 2027 exhibition while also creating materials that introduce younger audiences to careers in art conservation.
The Des Moines Art Center grant comes from Every Page Foundation, a national organization focused on advancing gender equity through programs tied to health, security, education, and career development for women and girls. In this case, the funding will support two goals: preserving works in the museum’s collection and creating educational tools that connect new generations to a field that blends art and science.
According to the Art Center, part of the project will fund conservation work on historically significant pieces by women artists. Those works are set to appear in Whisper to a Scream: Women Artists and Minimalism, an exhibition organized by Senior Curator Laura Burkhalter and scheduled to open in 2027.
The 2027 exhibition will highlight key women artists in modern and contemporary art
The upcoming exhibition will trace the contributions of women artists from early modernism to contemporary practice. The museum named Sue Fuller, Louise Nevelson, Jackie Ferrara, Eva Hesse, Dorothea Rockburne, Rachel Whiteread, Maya Lin, Gertrude Greene, and Ann Ryan among the artists represented in the show.
According to the institution, the conservation work will be carried out by an all-woman team from the Midwest Art Conservation Center. That detail is also part of the project’s broader focus, which highlights women’s leadership in a specialized field that brings together art history, chemistry, material analysis, and long-term preservation.
The museum said this phase of the project will help prepare the works for the 2027 exhibition and keep them accessible to the public over time. It also tied the effort to a longer history of collecting and exhibiting work by women artists in its galleries and permanent collection.
As part of that history, the Art Center pointed to the legacy of Louise Noun, who donated more than 120 works by women artists to the collection. That gift helped shape the strength of the museum’s holdings in this area and continues to influence its curatorial direction.
The project will also introduce girls and young women to art conservation careers
In addition to preserving artworks, the grant will fund a career education effort aimed at women and girls interested in the overlap between art and science. The plan includes the production of an educational video featuring the career paths of the conservators involved in the project.
That video will be shared through the Art Center’s website, social media channels, and community partners that work with girls and young women. The goal is to make career paths in art conservation more visible in a field that often remains unfamiliar outside museums, universities, and specialized labs.
Art conservation requires technical training and knowledge of materials, history, analysis, and long-term care methods. According to the museum, that mix creates an entry point for students and young professionals interested in careers connected to both creative and scientific work.
The institution also said the project will be led by Senior Curator Laura Burkhalter, Director of Registration and Collections Management Mickey Ryan, and Senior Director of Museum Learning, Engagement, and Community Access Jill Featherstone. Each brings more than 20 years of experience in her field and long-standing leadership within the Art Center.
The Art Center expands a broader mission tied to public access in Iowa
The Des Moines Art Center is located in Iowa’s capital city and welcomes more than 300,000 visitors each year, according to the institution. Its historic campus includes three buildings designed by major 20th century architects Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Richard Meier, all set within the natural landscape of Greenwood Park.
The museum is also home to one of the region’s strongest collections of 20th and 21st century art and presents exhibitions and lectures each year featuring artists with regional, national, and international reach. Alongside its exhibition program, it operates an art school with studio classes for all ages and the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park in downtown Des Moines.
According to the Art Center, its education programs prioritize access and collaboration, and the institution incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion into multiple parts of its mission. In that context, the new grant fits into a broader effort that connects preservation, education, and public access.
The announcement also highlights how a local cultural institution can use outside funding to preserve its collection while opening conversations about professional pathways for women in specialized fields. In this project, conservation work and career education move forward together.
With planning underway for the 2027 exhibition, the funding will help ensure that works by women artists receive conservation treatment before going on view and that Iowa audiences have more opportunities to learn about both the art itself and the work required to preserve it.
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