STATEN ISLAND — The Staten Island Museum just received a major infusion of cash to support its current and future exhibits.
The Staten Island Foundation recently awarded a $500,000 grant to the museum, matching the museum's private donations dollar-for-dollar and bringing the total raised to $1 million.
“The money is all going to exhibits,” Henryk Behnke, vice president of external affairs and advancement, said on Monday. “We’re very happy about the initial funding from the Staten Island Foundation."
The grant, which was first reported by the Staten Island Advance, will help support two new exhibits arriving in the fall of 2014: “LOST/FOUND: Return of the Mastodon,” which details environmental changes on Staten Island and beyond, and “From Farm to City,” a history of the island.
The museum also received a $450,000 grant from the Richmond County Savings Foundation to support those exhibits.
Other displays coming in the fall of 2014 include “Staten Island SEEN,” which will feature 19th-century, 20th-century and contemporary landscape paintings of the island, and “Opening the Treasure Box,” a comprehensive view of the museum’s permanent collection.
The museum, located at 75 Stuyvesant Place, two blocks from the St. George Ferry Terminal, was founded in 1881 and houses thousands of artifacts ranging from zoological specimens to historic maps.
The museum is also in the process of renovating a landmarked 1879 Greek Revival structure at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Building A, to become a climate-controlled museum facility. The $26 million project has received funding from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro and the City Council.
