Miami’s PÉrez Museum Receives $10 Million Gift from Ken Griffin

Pérez Art Museum (PAMM) in Miami announced on November 9 that billionaire Ken Griffin will donate $10 million to the institution. The gift, which was unveiled at the museum’s annual Art of the Party fundraising gala, is one of the largest ever received by the museum, and arrives after Florida governorRon DeSantis cut 100 percent of state funding—totaling $32 million—for the arts. The money will be used to enhance PAMM’s collection and support its mission. Also unveiled at the event was the newly namedKenneth C. GriffinGallery, PAMM’s largest single gallery, which showcases highlights of the museum’s permanent collection. Griffin, a noted art collector and the founder of hedge fund Citadel, one of the world’s largest asset managers, in 2022 relocated his firm’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami and moved there himself.

“ThePérez Art Museum Miamiis a world-class arts and cultural hub that enriches our great city,” Griffinsaid. “I am proud to support this outstanding institution in unison with the broader Miami community.” In his remarks, Griffinaffirmedhis support for the museum’s racially diverse collection, noting that it “brings us closer together.” Griffin has in the past provided financial support to institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Modern Art. A prominent Republican donor, he recently funded the Republican effort to gain control of Congress.

Real estate mogul Jorge Pérez, whose $35 million cash donation to the former Miami Art Museum back in 2011 resulted in its renaming in his honor, was sanguine regarding both the gift and Griffin’s politics. “I’m a Democrat, Ken’s a conservative,” he said at the event, “and art is art.”