MENOMONEE FALLS (WITI) -- The Milwaukee Art Museum received $2 million from Kohl's on Tuesday, August 13th, to continue its Kohl's Art Generation program, a youth art education initiative.
In a news release, Michelle Gass, Kohl's chief customer officer, said the department store is excited to continue its partnership with the museum.
“We are pleased to share in the commitment of enhancing education and enriching the lives of area children and families through art and creativity,” Gass said.
The Kohl's Art Generation program is already in implementation at the institution. It began in 2008 with the goal of delivering quality art education to Milwaukee-area families. According to a Kohl's news release, this initiative has helped increase the number of families with access to the Milwaukee Art Museum's exhibits and arts programs. Before the Kohl's initiative, 9,000 families were members of the Milwaukee Art Museum. Right now, there are more than 300,000 participants with the Kohl's Art Generation program.
The new funding will support two new exhibitions for the Kohl's Art Generation program and a new Kohl's Art Generation Lab, which will open in 2015. The Kohl's Art Generation Lab will allow families to get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes happenings at an art museum. Among the tasks visitors will be able to do in this new lab include "x-raying" a painting, altering frames on art works and quizzing curators on their jobs.
Kohl's is based in Menomonee Falls and has over 1,155 department stores in 49 states. The $2 million donation comes from a program, Kohl’s Cares, that sells special products and then donates 100 percent of the net profit to benefit children's health and education initiatives around the country.