Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and the Cleveland Museum of Art announced a joint venture that will advance both institutions and prepare future curators, scholars, museum directors and academic leaders for careers in the arts. The endeavor was inspired by Cleveland Museum of Art trustee Nancy Keithley and Case Western Reserve trustee Joseph Keithley. The couple has committed $15 million to bring The Nancy and Joseph Keithley Institute for Art History to fruition.

Case Western and the Cleveland Museum have been longtime collaborators and the highlight of the Keithley Institute is its reimagined joint doctoral program that the museum and university first developed together in 1967. The program emphasizes object-oriented study, which entails seeing objects firsthand as well as participating in the curating process and other aspects of museum operation. The Keithleys’ generous donation will provide graduate students stipends and travel fellowships as well as compensation for curriculum development, teaching and collection seminars.

David Franklin, the Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, said, “We are honored that Nancy and Joseph Keithley chose to help us realize our shared dreams of a dynamic, world-class institute. Their gift is not a gift of collaboration, but also the opportunity to realize incomparable opportunities for students, faculty, staff and the public.”