The Nevada Museum of Art has announced a $16 million gift from Stacie Mathewson in honor of her late husband, Charles N. Mathewson.

The gift will support expansion of the museum and endow an education and research center that will be named after the couple. The expansion will provide new educational spaces for youth programming; a library to increase access to books, archives, and research materials; increased gallery space designed to help the museum reach its goal of exhibiting 50 percent of its permanent collection year-round; an art collections storage and conservation area; energy-efficient building upgrades; additional parking; a bookshop; and a third-floor sculpture garden.

The Charles and Stacie Mathewson Education and Research Center aims to serve students, educators, scholars, and the community at large. The project is currently under construction and projected to open in spring 2025. So far, the museum has raised $46 million toward its $60 million goal.

“The Nevada Museum of Art is the jewel of our community and provides highly accoladed arts, culture, and educational opportunities for our region’s children,” said Mathewson. “There is no better legacy than supporting an innovative organization that has its eye toward the future. I thank my husband [who died in 2021] for this commitment to this cause and his children for being there to further support his contributions, which will benefit this community for decades.”

(Photo courtesy of the Nevada Museum of Art)