Thoma Foundation Opens Headquarters in Dallas

by Jessica Fuentes June 19, 2024

The Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation, a 501(c)3 private foundation, has opened its headquarters and an exhibition space in Dallas, north of the Arts District.

According to the organization’s website, Carl D. Thoma, founder and managing partner of a private equity firm with offices in Chicago and San Francisco, and his wife Marilynn established a family foundation in 1986, “as a vehicle to support innovative people and organizations.” In 2014, the couple founded the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation to specifically support initiatives related to visual art. That same year, the foundation opened two art spaces, the Orange Door in Chicago and Art House in Santa Fe. In 2021, the art foundation was renamed to reflect the organization’s broader interests, as its reach expanded to include community, leadership, and education initiatives.

An installation photograph of the entryway of the Thoma Foundation headquarters.

Thoma Foundation headquarters

In fall 2023, the Thoma Foundation opened its Dallas location, which serves as the foundation headquarters and as a space to exhibit works from the collection. The collection includes more than 1,500 objects and spans the family’s interest in various art forms, including art of the Spanish Americas, digital and media art, Japanese bamboo works, and post-war painting and sculpture. Since 2015, the Foundation has loaned more than 1,400 works of art to over 240 exhibitions across the world. 

Some recent exhibitions that the collection has been featured in are: A Well-trained Eye at the Visual Arts Center in Austin, Creative Splendor: Japanese Bamboo Baskets from the Thoma Collection at the San Antonio Museum of Art, I’ll Be Your Mirror at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and Georgia O’Keeffe: Photographer at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Currently, works from the collection can be seen in teamLab: The World of Irreversible Change at the San Antonio Museum of Art, Art of the Spanish Americas at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, and You Belong Here: Politics and Religion at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin.

Along with loaning artworks, the Thoma Foundation provides financial support to nonprofit organizations through grant opportunities. Since 1986, the organization has provided over $23 million in grants, gifts, and awards to arts organizations and individuals. Some of its granting programs include Bold Initiatives, a matching program that provides funds to support midsize institutions working toward long-term goals; the Digital Changemaker Grant, an initiative in support of technology for cultural organizations; and Education Grantmaking, a program that supports a range of educational opportunities for rural youth in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas. 

A photograph of bamboo artists Kondo Masayo, Nakatomi Hajime, and Watanabe Chiaki.

Kondo Masayo, Nakatomi Hajime, and Watanabe Chiaki. Photograph by Kubo Takashi. Courtesy of The Next Generation Bamboo Art Prizes.

Earlier this month, the Thoma Foundation announced Nakatomi Hajime, Kondo Masayo, and Watanabe Chiaki, as the winners of the inaugural The Next Generation of Bamboo Art Prizes, a competition which the foundation supports through a grant. The program, organized by Robert T. Coffland and Margo Thoma, seeks to uplift and amplify Japanese bamboo artists. Additionally, earlier this week the organization announced Rodrigo Villalobos Ruiz and the Research Center for Heritage Conservation of the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) in Lima, Peru as the inaugural recipients of its Art of the Spanish Americas Conservation Grant. Mr. Ruiz is the head of the conservation department at the Zacatecana House Museum in Querétaro, Mexico. 

View the Thoma Foundation’s collection and learn more, including how to book a tour of the foundation’s office, make artwork loan inquiries, and make image and research requests at the organization’s website.

Correction June 19, 2024: This article has been updated to clarify that the Thoma Foundation is a supporter of The Next Generation of Bamboo Art Prizes, it does not organize the competition or select the winners.

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