Lubar Family Gives $10 Million to Art Museum

The gift establishes a drawings and prints center at the Milwaukee Art Museum, which holds 35,000 works.

Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Fine Art

Photograph of a quiet gallery with pale oak flat-file cabinets along a white wall, a single framed cream sheet at distance, and cool daylight from tall windows. — The Lubar family gave $10 million to the Milwaukee Art Museum to create a permanent drawings and prints center, which holds more than half of the institution's 35,000 works. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

The Lubar family donated $10 million to the Milwaukee Art Museum to establish the Lubar Family Center for Drawings and Prints. The gift provides permanent funding for four areas, including a curator position that Nikki Otten has been named to fill.

Why it matters

Drawings and prints make up more than half of the museum's holdings, and works on paper are sensitive to light, which limits how long individual pieces can be displayed. Permanent funding gives the museum a dedicated base for caring for and presenting that collection in Milwaukee.

The museum's collection holds 35,000 works, and drawings and prints account for more than half of that total, spanning more than five centuries. How the $10 million will be divided among the four funded areas has not been disclosed.

The players

Milwaukee Art Museum

The Milwaukee Art Museum is the recipient of the gift and the institution where the new drawings and prints center will be housed.

Lubar Family

The Lubar family is the donor behind the $10 million gift, a family whose name is attached to the new center and its endowed positions.

Nikki Otten

Nikki Otten joined the museum in 2018 and was named the Lubar Family Curator of Drawings and Prints.

The details

The gift provides permanent funding for the Lubar Family Curator of Drawings and Prints, the Lubar Family Paper Conservator, the Lubar Family Fellow in Drawings and Prints, and the museum's drawings and prints exhibition program. Several members of the Lubar family were involved in the donation, and the museum announced a separate $10 million gift last month for the Quadracci Pavilion endowment.

Sheldon Lubar founded private investment firm Lubar & Co. in the late 1960s.
Nikki Otten joined the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2018.
The Lubar $10 million gift was announced on November 5, 2026.
The separate Quadracci Pavilion endowment gift was announced last month, in October 2026.

Industry Dynamics

The gift follows the museum's separate $10 million endowment announcement last month for the Quadracci Pavilion, signaling a sustained push for dedicated funding at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Targeted endowments for specialized collections like works on paper reflect a broader approach among art institutions to secure permanent support for conservation and curatorial staff.

The new center will shape how Milwaukee visitors can see the museum's works on paper, which are displayed on a limited basis because of their sensitivity to light. Funding for an exhibition program dedicated to drawings and prints may lead to more regular opportunities to view pieces that are rarely on view.

The takeaway

Dedicated endowments can make rarely displayed works more accessible over time. Readers interested in the museum's collection can follow its exhibition announcements for future drawings and prints shows.