Campaign for the New Bruce Receives Critical New Community Support

The Bruce Museum extends its deepest gratitude to all donors to The Campaign for the New Bruce whose generosity is making the New Bruce possible for the community.

We are especially grateful to the donors who have made Leadership Gifts to the Campaign.

With construction of the “New Bruce” now officially underway, supporters of the Bruce Museum’s ambitious renovation and expansion project have not only stepped up to the latest fundraising challenge – they far exceeded the goal of the $500,000 Match, leaders of the Campaign for the New Bruce announced today.

This past summer, three generous friends of the Bruce Museum came forward to launch a $500,000 Challenge for the Campaign and agreed to match all new gifts by the October 8 Groundbreaking for the 43,000-square-foot addition, which will include the William L. Richter Art Wing and vibrant new community spaces, featuring a restaurant with indoor and outdoor dining, a state-of-the-art auditorium, and a larger Museum store. The renovation of the existing Museum building will include the new Steven & Alexandra Cohen Education Wing and Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery, as well as reimagined science exhibition galleries.

The Challenge was met by over 100 donors, including past Campaign contributors, raising more than $600,000 in new contributions. Lynne and Richard Pasculano were inspired by those who launched the Challenge, and close to the end of the Match made a new pledge of $500,000. This means that the initial $500,000 Challenge was matched – and then matched again. This was followed by an additional gift of $100,000 by anonymous donors who have previously supported the Campaign with an impactful gift. Such generosity from our community enabled $1.7 million to be raised within the past few months, a measure of how beloved the Bruce Museum is by its family of friends and supporters. 

“In breaking ground on the wonderful new building addition, we are celebrating a new beginning for the Bruce Museum, and celebrating the donors who have gotten us to this point,” says Robert Wolterstorff, The Susan E. Lynch Executive Director. “We are truly grateful to the donors who launched this most recent Challenge and to all the generous supporters who came forward to double and ultimately even to triple the impact of their gifts. It really made a difference in allowing us to break ground this fall. Thank you all so much!”

The New Bruce Campaign will continue to raise funds to construct, furnish, and install the New Bruce and to increase the Endowment, which will sustain the dramatically expanded educational and exhibition programs, the new art galleries, and completely renovated science galleries that will be hallmarks of the New Bruce.

To date, the Campaign for the New Bruce has received contributions from more than 375 individuals, businesses, and foundations. This includes significant support from members of the Museum’s renowned Docent program and 100% support from the Museum’s professional staff. What’s more, in addition to the tens of millions of dollars already given, the Museum’s Board of Trustees is poised to complete a separate, $1 million fundraising initiative to underwrite one of the new classrooms in the Education Wing.

“We are very grateful for all these recent gifts and thankful to the New Bruce benefactors over the last several years,” says James B. Lockhart III, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “It is great to see our friends and neighbors come together to support the New Bruce as the community focal point for education, art and science.”

The transformative project to reimagine the Bruce has been proceeding in phases. A top-to-bottom renovation of the Museum’s changing gallery spaces, begun in September 2019, was completed on budget and on time to host the opening of major new exhibitions of art and science on February 1, 2020.

The current phase of the renovation project, which began on February 3, 2020, is the reinvention of the Museum’s permanent science galleries. Scheduled to reopen in late 2021, the entirely new Natural Cycles Shape Our Land exhibition will present a multi-sensory expedition through the region’s rich natural history and address critical issues in science today, including climate and environmental challenges and solutions. The new galleries include interactives throughout, a refurbished diorama, and displays that include full-scale models of dinosaurs and live animals. For a virtual tour of these gallery spaces, please visit NewBruceScience.org.

Construction has now begun on the centerpiece of the New Bruce: The three-story, 43,000-square-foot addition that will more than double the size of the Museum. Designed by the award-winning New Orleans firm of EskewDumezRipple, the new building will open directly onto Bruce Park and feature a delicate striated façade of cast stone and glass inspired by the surfaces of Connecticut’s quarries and the rock outcrops of Bruce Park. The EDR team includes Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architects, who are creating a natural environment around the New Bruce that includes a new sculpture trail and places to stroll and play.

The New Bruce Campaign Committee is led by Museum Trustees John Ippolito and Heidi Brake Smith and past Trustee and Museum Council Co-Chair Susan V. Mahoney. To learn more about the Campaign for the New Bruce and to participate, please contact Whitney Lucas Rosenberg, Director of Development and Institutional Advancement, at 203-413-6765 or wrosenberg@brucemuseum.org, or Barbara Tavrow, Campaign Director, at 203-249-8225 or btavrow@bjtavrowconsulting.com

Construction Begins on Transformative Expansion of the Bruce Museum

Bruce Museum Executive director and CEO Robert Wolterstorff with a model of what the Bruce will look like following renovations. Photograph by Bob Rozycki

Soon, the “New Bruce” will rise from the ground. 

 Following the recent success of its ongoing, community-wide fundraising effort, leaders of the Campaign for the New Bruce have announced that construction will begin in October on the centerpiece of the Bruce Museum’s transformative renovation and expansion project: a three-story, 43,000-square-foot addition that will more than double the size of the Museum, adding state-of-the-art exhibition galleries for art and science and new education and community spaces, including a restaurant and auditorium.

 The New Bruce Campaign Committee, Museum leadership, and staff will celebrate this milestone achievement by hosting a “shovel-in-the-ground” ceremony on Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 10:00 am. In keeping with local and state COVID-19 guidelines, the invitation-only event for major donors and other key stakeholders and supporters will be conducted in accordance with current capacity limits, social-distancing measures, and health-safety protocols. For details about viewing the Groundbreaking Celebration online, please visit brucemuseum.org or call 203-869-0376.

 The new addition will feature the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Education Wing, as well as the William L. Richter Art Wing, including vastly expanded accommodations for changing art exhibitions and, for the first time, significant space to show the Museum’s permanent art collection in four new galleries. The entire ground floor of the new addition will be free and open to the public during Museum operating hours and available for special-event use by local community groups, families, and businesses. 

 In another first for the Museum, a welcoming restaurant will offer both indoor and outside dining. The popular Museum Store will greatly increase in size. An auditorium, equipped with state-of-the-art audio-visual systems, will host audiences of 250 – more than double the capacity of the Museum’s current lecture gallery. The project also includes updated storage areas for its growing collection of 25,000 works of art, natural history specimens, and scientific objects and artifacts, and a new study room to welcome visiting researchers to explore the collections.

 “This is an incredibly exciting moment for Greenwich and its hometown Museum, and for the entire Fairfield-Westchester region,” says Robert Wolterstorff, The Susan E. Lynch Executive Director. “I know I speak for our family of staff, members, volunteers, and Trustees in expressing our profound gratitude to the community for their support.”

“I would also like to thank all our generous donors for sharing our vision of creating an exciting and beautiful New Bruce for Greenwich and the greater Fairfield and Westchester County communities,” adds James B. Lockhart III, Chair of the Bruce. “And our gratitude as well to Robert and his team, the New Bruce Campaign Committee, and all our Trustees – past, present, and Honorary. The Campaign will continue to raise funds for future phases of the New Bruce expansion and the Museum’s Endowment, to operate the dramatically expanded educational programs, vibrant community spaces, and enhanced exhibitions for art and science.”

 Designed by the award-winning New Orleans firm of EskewDumezRipple, the new building addition will open directly onto Bruce Park and feature a delicate striated façade of cast stone and glass inspired by the surfaces of Connecticut’s quarries and the rock outcrops of Bruce Park. Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architects is creating a natural environment around the New Bruce that includes a sculpture trail and places to stroll and play. Turner Construction Co. is the lead contractor for the renovation and construction project. 

 The Grand Opening of the New Bruce is anticipated for the fall of 2022.

 Since its launch in 2014, the Campaign for the New Bruce has received donations from more than 330 individuals, businesses, and foundations. This includes 100% support from members of the Museum’s renowned Docent program, as well as full support from the Museum’s professional staff. In addition to their tens of millions of dollars of previous gifts, the Museum’s Board of Trustees is poised to complete a separate, $1 million fundraising initiative to underwrite one of the new classrooms in the Education Wing.

The New Bruce Campaign Committee is led by Museum Trustees John Ippolito and Heidi Brake Smith and past Trustee and Museum Council Co-Chair Susan V. Mahoney. To learn more about the Campaign for the New Bruce and to participate, please visit NewBruce.org or contact Whitney Lucas Rosenberg, Director of Development and Institutional Advancement, at 203-413-6765 or wrosenberg@brucemuseum.org, or Barbara Tavrow, Campaign Director, at 203-249-8225 or btavrow@bjtavrowconsulting.com.

The Bruce Museum Announces Major New Donation to Its Mineral Collection

The Gift of Prized New Mineral Specimens from Robert R. Wiener Will Elevate the Museum’s Collection to World-Class Standards

Robert Wiener

The Bruce Museum is pleased to announce a significant new gift of minerals from the renowned private collection of Robert R. Wiener. The recent donation follows the gift of nearly 100 world-class minerals Wiener pledged to the Museum in 2018 and includes a number of exceptional – and exceptionally large – museum-quality specimens.

Mr. Wiener is the chairman of MAXX Properties, a family-owned real estate company based in Harrison, N.Y. An Honorary Trustee of the Bruce Museum, Wiener has also made a $500,000 contribution to the Campaign for the New Bruce, the Museum’s transformative renovation and expansion project.

These magnificent minerals will be permanently highlighted along with selections from the Bruce Museum’s existing collection of gems and minerals in the new Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery when the New Bruce opens in 2022.

“Robert Wiener has been collecting minerals for over five decades from sites across the globe, from Peru to Tasmania to Madagascar, and from intricately connected cubes of pyrite, to dazzlingly clear crystals of selenite, to fiery red hexagons of vanadinite,” says Dr. Daniel Ksepka, Curator of Science.

“The Bruce team is creating a new state-of-the-art gallery to showcase these world treasures, and thanks to Mr. Wiener’s foresight and generosity, our Museum and its soon-to-be Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery will be among the nation’s preeminent destinations for enjoying, and learning from, these scientifically fascinating and aesthetically beautiful objects.”

One could say that the story of the new gallery started when Robert Wiener encountered the world of minerals during a museum visit with his grandmother, when he was seven years old. This sparked a love of minerals, and over time, Mr. Wiener assembled one of the world’s premier mineral collections, which today spans over 3,000 specimens.

“I’m delighted to be able to share my collection, and my passion,” says Wiener. “It’s a happy experience to spread knowledge and open the eyes of the uninitiated to a world with an allure that lasts forever.”

“My passion is for the people who are creating the New Bruce and their excitement about creating a cultural institution of the highest caliber,” Wiener adds. “I hope the minerals will sparkle in children's eyes and create an enthusiasm for learning more about geology, and all the other wonderful things that will come to them as they did to me by getting into the science of the earth.”

In November 2017, the Bruce Museum opened a temporary exhibition titled Treasures of the Earth: Mineral Masterpieces from the Robert R. Wiener Collection. “It proved to be wildly popular with our visitors,” Dr. Ksepka says. “We were shocked and thrilled when Mr. Wiener announced during the exhibition that he would donate all of the minerals on display to our permanent collection — along with some more even exceptional pieces. This extraordinary new donation has inspired us to envision a bigger and better permanent exhibition with state-of-the-art lighting and customized displays to highlight the collection.”

Reflecting the appeal of minerals as both scientifically fascinating and aesthetically beautiful objects, the new gallery will be placed at the intersection of three other major spaces in the New Bruce: the Cycles permanent science exhibition, the new changing science exhibition gallery, and the William L. Richter Art Wing.

Minerals are a source of wonder. Brilliant colors, dazzling lusters, and fascinating crystal forms captivate the imagination. Many examples of unusual crystal forms, rare combinations of multiple minerals growing together, and eye-catchingly enormous specimens will all be featured in the Wiener Mineral Gallery. Visitors will learn about the key aspects of mineralogy and the critical roles minerals play in everything from nutrition to smart phones. 

“Words can hardly express my gratitude to Robert Wiener for this amazing donation! This transformational gift will put the Bruce at the forefront in collecting and exhibiting minerals,” says Robert Wolterstorff, The Susan E. Lynch Executive Director. “These rare and gorgeous specimens exemplify the seemingly endless variety of forms and colors found in the world of minerals. The Bruce Museum is about exploring the fascinating ways in which art and science inspire and connect. Because of its location, right at the heart of the New Bruce, the Wiener Mineral Gallery will truly be a bridge between art and science, inspiring generations of visitors to come. Thank you, Robert Wiener!”

The New Bruce project – the first since a $4.3 million expansion in 1992 – is well under way. The expansion of the Museum from 30,000 to more than 70,000 square feet will add state-of-the-art exhibition, education, and community spaces, significantly increasing room for permanent and changing exhibitions of art and science, and connecting the Museum to its picturesque setting in Bruce Park in a dramatic new way.

To learn more about the new Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery, please visit this page at newbrucescience.org. To learn more about the Campaign for the New Bruce, visit NewBruce.org or contact Whitney Lucas Rosenberg, Director of Development and Institutional Advancement, at 203-413-6765 or wrosenberg@brucemuseum.org, or Barbara Tavrow, Campaign Advisor for the New Bruce; 203-249-8225 or btavrow@brucemuseum.org.