The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has announced gifts totaling nearly $4 million in support of photography initiatives.

The gifts include $2 million from Donald Keough, former president and COO of the Coca-Cola Company, and his wife, Marilyn, to endow a permanent curatorial position in photography and support ongoing photography programs and acquisitions. In recognition of the gift, the curatorial position, which currently is held by Brett Abbott, will be named the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography.

The museum also announced a $500,000 gift from Paul Hagedorn, an Atlanta-based artist and owner of the Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, in support of photography acquisitions and to establish the department's first acquisitions endowment; and a gift of $400,000 from the Yellowlees family, longtime supporters of the High, to strengthen the museum's collection of Southern photography. Finally, a significant but unspecified gift from Atlanta-based photographer Lucinda W. Bunnen will be used to create the first dedicated photography gallery in the museum's permanent collection space.

"To have so many leaders in our community come together simultaneously to support the important work that we’ve been doing is immensely gratifying," said Abbott. "Their generous contributions ensure the long-term fiscal health and growth of the photography collection and that the High will continue to be a leader in the field. I’m excited by the opportunities these gifts present to take our collection to new heights and to expand our holdings in key areas, especially related to the work of Southern photographers."