Historic $10 Million Beatriz and Graham Bolton Gift Powers The Phillips Collection’s Global Vision
The largest gift from an individual to the Phillips’s endowment in its history will expand the museum’s international reach, deepen cultural exchange, and strengthen education and community engagement.
WASHINGTON, DC—The Phillips Collection and Beatriz and Graham Bolton today announced a historic $10 million gift to advance the museum’s forward-thinking priorities detailed in its 2025–29 Strategic Plan. The Beatriz and Graham Bolton Global Vision Fund, the gift’s primary priority, will strengthen the Phillips’s international presence as a world-class art museum through exhibitions, loans, and partnerships with museums, galleries, embassies, and cultural organizations around the world. Complementing this global focus, the gift will advance the work and leadership of the Education and Responsive Learning department by endowing the Beatriz and Graham Bolton Chief of Education and Responsive Learning. In tandem, the museum’s education and community engagement gallery will be named the Peggy Bolton Community Gallery, in memory of Graham Bolton’s late mother.
“This is a momentous gift for the Phillips, one that will shape the museum’s future and expand its impact for generations,” said Vradenburg Director and CEO Jonathan P. Binstock. “Beatriz and Graham Bolton’s generosity will help us carry forward Duncan Phillips’s belief in the joy-giving and life-enhancing power of art. Rooted in the spirit of openness that has long defined the Phillips, this gift will sustain and amplify our engagement with artists and ideas from around the world. Art has always moved freely across borders. This gift lets the Phillips do the same on a new scale.”
“Graham and I are thrilled to support the Phillips’s mission of being a welcoming home for all, especially its ability to bring people together through the universal language of art,” said Beatriz Bolton. “We are inspired by how the Phillips makes art accessible and meaningful to people from all walks of life, including through exhibitions and programs like Creative Aging. We are proud to support an institution that harnesses the power of art to enrich lives in ways that are deeply personal and lasting.”
The Boltons’ gift is the largest contribution by an individual to the Phillips’s endowment in the museum’s history. It joins a distinguished legacy of transformative philanthropy that includes successive donations from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation in support of strategic initiatives and a landmark gift of art and endowment support from philanthropists Roger Sant and his late wife, Vicki, who served as Chair of the Phillips Board. It is the second multimillion-dollar investment in the museum’s strategic priorities this year, a sign of philanthropy’s enduring role in advancing the Phillips’s mission and future.
With an expanded emphasis on cross-cultural exchange, the gift propels the museum’s presentation of ambitious exhibitions and year-round collaborations that connect audiences with artistic voices and ideas from around the world. Building on international presentations such as Miró and the United States (2026), the Bolton Global Vision Fund will extend the reach of the museum’s rich curatorial initiatives, Phillips Music, and public programs through partnerships with embassies and cultural organizations around the globe. Multilingual exhibition interpretation and new approaches to guest experience will broaden access and energize the Phillips for increasingly diverse audiences.
The Boltons’ support also deepens the museum’s investment in education and community engagement, strengthening programs that connect people of all ages and backgrounds with art. Tiffany McGettigan, who joined the museum in 2025, becomes the inaugural Beatriz and Graham Bolton Chief of Education and Responsive Learning, leading in-gallery interpretation, PK-12 education, Phillips@THEARC, adult public programs, and the library and archives. The newly named Peggy Bolton Community Gallery will be a hub for public exhibitions highlighting the work of Creative Aging participants, Art Links students, and Phillips staff.
“This exceptional gift from Beatriz and Graham represents intentional and personal philanthropy at its finest, grounded in a spirit of deep partnership and responsiveness to the museum’s ongoing work and future potential,” said Elizabeth Racheva, Chief Advancement Officer. “Their tremendous generosity—as global citizens themselves—will elevate the museum’s impact and international profile for generations to come.”
The Boltons’ have championed the Phillips for several years, supporting exhibitions and programs spotlighting artists such as a Zilia Sánchez retrospective (2019), Intersections installations by Los Carpinteros (2019) and Daniel Canogar (2021), and an exhibition of Bernardí Roig (2024), whose work the Boltons have also gifted to the museum. Beatriz Bolton joined the Phillips’s Board of Trustees in October 2022 and chairs its Institutional Culture and Civic Responsibility Committee, which focuses on engaging and connecting diverse audiences and stakeholders at the museum.
The Phillips Collection will honor Beatriz and Graham Bolton for their philanthropy and compelling global vision at its May 2027 Annual Gala, Beautiful Together. Beatriz co-chaired the 2024 and 2025 Annual Galas, two of the most successful fundraising events in the museum’s recent history.
IMAGE GALLERY:
High-resolution press images are available upon request. Please contact Lauryn Cantrell, lcantrell@phillipscollection.org.
IMAGE: Beatriz Bolton and Jonathan P. Binstock outside The Phillips Collection, Photo: AK Blythe
ABOUT THE STRATEGIC PLAN
Launched in Fall 2024, the five-year plan’s development involved a coordinated effort among the museum’s staff, Board of Trustees, and community stakeholders, ensuring a broad range of perspectives were represented. Michael Kaiser and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management guided this 10-month process, which was informed by selected readings from the more than 400 essays and seven books of Duncan Phillips, as well as essays about the Phillips by art historians, critics, and scholars. These texts inspired reflection on Phillips’s visionary approach to building and sharing his collection and helped shape a plan that honors the museum’s distinguished collection and history while charting a path toward long-term sustainability and relevance. A renewed focus on engaging leading artists will strengthen connections with audiences, expand public programming, and reinforce the museum’s financial foundation.
ABOUT THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION
The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, was founded in 1921. The museum houses one of the world’s most celebrated Impressionist and American modern art collections and continues to grow its collection with important contemporary voices. Its distinctive building combines extensive new galleries with the former home of its founder, Duncan Phillips. The Phillips’s impact spreads nationally and internationally through its diverse and experimental special exhibitions and events, including its award-winning education programs for educators, students, and adults; renowned Phillips Music series; and dynamic art and wellness and Phillips after 5 events. The Phillips Collection’s extensive community partnerships include Phillips@THEARC, the museum’s satellite campus in Southeast DC. The Phillips Collection is a private, non-government museum, supported primarily by donations.