New York, NY -- Dia Art Foundation has announced the next phase of its capital campaign, with plans to raise $50 million, including $30 million for the renovation and endowment of Dia:Chelsea, the site of Dia's New York City exhibition program, and $20 million to bolster current endowments for Dia:Beacon and Dia's long-term projects. Launching the campaign, Dia has already raised $10 million in pledges toward its campaign goal.

Michael Govan, President and Director, Dia Art Foundation, remarked, "The generosity of Dia's patrons has been extraordinary, particularly in light of this time of fiscal austerity. Thanks to these supporters, we have opened an outstanding new museum in Beacon, New York, and we are steadily increasing our endowments and planning continued growth."

The first phase of Dia Art Foundation's capital campaign raised over $80 million to build and endow Dia:Beacon Riggio Galleries, and to support Dia's long-term projects and its programs in Chelsea. The celebrated new museum houses the organization's permanent collection and has attracted over 100,000 visitors since opening in May 2003.

Monies raised for Dia:Chelsea will provide an appropriate endowment and exhibition funds to maintain and further develop Dia's distinguished contemporary programming, and will underwrite a building renovation. Capital improvements to Dia's converted warehouse facility at 548 West 22nd Street are essential and include improved accessibility, fire systems, restoration and waterproofing, as well as ventilation and climate control to protect artworks and allow Dia:Chelsea to remain open through the summer months. Dia will close the Chelsea facility in January 2004 to begin renovations, and anticipates reopening in 2006.

Dia:Beacon
Dia:Beacon Riggio Galleries, Dia Art Foundation's new museum, presents a distinguished collection of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present. Situated on the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon, New York, the museum occupies a 300,000-square-foot former Nabisco box-printing facility which was renovated by Dia with artist Robert Irwin and architect OpenOffice.

Dia:Beacon's expansive galleries comprise 240,000 square feet of exhibition space illuminated by natural light. The museum presents a vast range of works by a focused group of some of the most significant artists of the last half century, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, John Chamberlain, Hanne Darboven, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Imi Knoebel, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Blinky Palermo, Gerhard Richter, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Andy Warhol, and Lawrence Weiner.

Dia:Chelsea
Dia:Chelsea (formerly Dia Center for the Arts) is a dynamic component of Dia's activities. Initiated in 1986 by former director Charles B. Wright, and curated by Lynne Cooke since 1991, Dia's Chelsea program has provided a laboratory for artists to conceive significant new works and distinctive exhibitions. Exhibitions typically offer an artist an entire floor on which to develop a new project or create a focused presentation of existing work, and are on view for approximately one year to allow extended viewing.

Public programs at Dia:Chelsea, based on the work on view, encompass scholarly research and publications, the Arts Education Program, commissioned artist web projects, Readings in Contemporary Poetry, the Robert Lehman Lectures on Contemporary Art, the Artists on Artists lecture series, film and video screenings, performances, and book launches. Dia:Chelsea has become a seminal attraction for national and international visitors to New York City, as well as a familiar cultural destination for many New Yorkers.

Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation was founded in 1974. A nonprofit institution, Dia plays a vital role among visual arts organizations nationally and internationally by initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving art projects, and by serving as a primary locus for interdisciplinary art and criticism. In addition to presenting exhibitions and public programming at Dia:Chelsea, and its permanent collection at Dia:Beacon, Dia maintains long-term, site-specific projects in the western United States, in New York City, and on Long Island. Michael Govan is the president and director of Dia Art Foundation; Lynne Cooke is the curator.