Ruth Foundation for the Arts

Ruth Foundation for the Arts Ruth Foundation for the Arts is an adventurous arts philanthropy. We invest, we build, we initiate, and we publish.

We also have a rich legacy, and opened an art space in Milwaukee in 2024. For questions, please see our FAQs: https://rutharts.org/faqs/

Join us April 2nd to celebrate the second iteration of our current exhibition, “Original Order, Order Original: The Art ...
03/19/2026

Join us April 2nd to celebrate the second iteration of our current exhibition, “Original Order, Order Original: The Art and Archives of Bettina”, organized by Rivers Institute.

Inspired by Bettina’s use of natural materials across her artistic endeavors—in leaves and sticks and shells— the closing reception includes a panel conversation with artists who think about, archive, and draw from knowledge held and articulated in living structures. This conversation, moderated by writer Alhena Katsof, features Adjua Gargi Nzinga Greaves, Anne Percoco, Davide Balula, and Matthew Schrader.

5–7pm: Closing reception
5:30–6:30pm: Panel conversation

“Original Order Order Original” is on view until April 3, 2026 with open hours on March 20th and April 3rd from 12–5pm.

Visit oooo.riversinstitute.org to explore many of Bettina’s works and read newly commissioned essays.







📸: Featured works, BG0001PL, BG0001PL verso, BG0002PL, BG0002PL verso, BG0003PL, BG0003PL verso, BG0004PL, BG0004PL verso, BG0005PL, BG005PL verso, BG0006PL, BG0006PL verso, BG0007PL, BG0007PL verso, BG0008PL, BG0008PL verso.

Images courtesy of Ruth Arts.

ruthfoundationforthearts

Writer and literary scholar Eugenie Brinkema took time to dive into Bettina’s archive. Reflecting on Bettina’s ‘incision...
02/02/2026

Writer and literary scholar Eugenie Brinkema took time to dive into Bettina’s archive. Reflecting on Bettina’s ‘incisions,’ she considers what’s made possible when a cut doesn’t wound but transforms and when flatness is converted to depth.  

Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to read the latest reflection and contribution to the Original Order Order Original online database. Explore a digital catalogue of unboxed works and the forms and language that connect them.

Visit the exhibition during open hours on Fridays from 12–5 pm.

“Original Order Order Original: The Art and Archives of Bettina” runs through April 3, 2026.

Featured works: Untitled, year unknown, pencil on cut construction paper, 8.5 x 12.13", BG0018DR. Untitled, year unknown, pencil on cut construction paper, 8.5 x 15.13", BG0021DR. Untitled, year unknown, pencil on cut construction paper, 8.5 x 13.13", BG0019DR. Courtesy of Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought and The Estate of Bettina Grossman.

Eugenie Brinkema is Professor of Contemporary Literature and Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, status-only Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto, and affiliated faculty at the University of Amsterdam. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals and her books include The Forms of the Affects (2014) and Life-Destroying Diagrams (2022), both published with Duke University Press.

12/12/2025

GOOD NEWS from Ruth Arts coming soon!

Sign up for our mailing list at rutharts.org to get the news first!

The unboxing of Bettina’s work is officially underway! It was such a joy to mark the beginning of “Original Order Order ...
11/05/2025

The unboxing of Bettina’s work is officially underway! It was such a joy to mark the beginning of “Original Order Order Original: The Art and Archives of Bettina” with some live unboxing with friends from all over. As the project continues to unfold in the studio, new relationships will take shape across the gallery. Our next unboxing event will be in December. Sign up for the Ruth Arts newsletter to get the details and see some behind-the-scenes discoveries!

📷: Zola Yi.

We are sending the list of artist nominators and awardees directly to your inbox this year! To get the news, sign up at ...
05/21/2025

We are sending the list of artist nominators and awardees directly to your inbox this year! To get the news, sign up at www.rutharts.org.

Another season of Serious Joy! This year’s Artist Choice awardees will be revealed soon! Every spring, a new group of in...
05/21/2025

Another season of Serious Joy! This year’s Artist Choice awardees will be revealed soon! 

Every spring, a new group of incredible organizations get the good news from Ruth Arts that they’ve won an Artist Choice award. It’s always a surprise and it’s always because artists really love them.

Congratulations to the 2025 Wisconsin Special Project grant recipients! Awarding $1.6 million over two years to visual a...
03/20/2025

Congratulations to the 2025 Wisconsin Special Project grant recipients! Awarding $1.6 million over two years to visual and performing arts organizations across the state, the program provides project funding for small and mid-size non-profit organizations, including Tribal Nations, in Wisconsin. Since launching in 2024, the grantmaking initiative has committed $3.5 million to arts and culture organizations in the state. 

These ten ambitious projects are contributing to a more complex and abundant understanding of the histories, lived experiences, and futures of this region, and we can’t wait to see their projects unfold!

Let’s celebrate the 2025 Wisconsin Special Project Grant recipients! Chosen by a national panel of esteemed jurors, ten ...
03/18/2025

Let’s celebrate the 2025 Wisconsin Special Project Grant recipients! Chosen by a national panel of esteemed jurors, ten projects were awarded this year based on being timely and artist-initiated, embracing the unconventional and experimental with an emphasis on public knowledge sharing and uplifting historically underrepresented communities while encouraging creative change within the region. Sign up for our newsletter at rutharts.org to be the first to get the good news!

Over the past month, we asked these five exceptional artists to take snapshots of their surroundings, to understand what...
01/28/2025

Over the past month, we asked these five exceptional artists to take snapshots of their surroundings, to understand what they love, how they start their day, who they miss. We’ve shared selections from their beautiful photographic responses at rutharts.org.

Today’s the day! We’re pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Ruth Awards!This is the second edition of the Ruth...
01/28/2025

Today’s the day! We’re pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Ruth Awards!

This is the second edition of the Ruth Awards, in which five contemporary artists are awarded an unrestricted prize of $100,000. This year, we congratulate Jennifer Harge (MI), Suzanne Jackson (GA), Carlos Motta (NY), Juan Sánchez (NY), and Theresa Secord (ME)!

“Through the many challenges and ongoing complexities of sustaining a creative practice, there are countless artists who endure, who work with exceptional generosity, who are teachers and mentors for each other and for the next generation, who see art as a vehicle for social transformation. The awarded artists embody these values deeply, for not only their investment in their practices but their commitment to others—and we continue to learn from them each day.” - Kim Nguyen, Program Director

Portraits of Jennifer Harge, Suzanne Jackson, Carlos Motta, and Juan Sánchez by Azikiwe Mohammed. Portrait of Theresa Secord by Séan Alonzo Harris.

“We are entitled to have representations of people that look like us and talk and feel like us…”- Benny Andrews, “The 24...
01/21/2025

“We are entitled to have representations of people that look like us and talk and feel like us…”

- Benny Andrews, “The 24 Hour a Day Life of Benny Andrews” (1974)

We've extended our exhibition, “Benny Andrews: Trouble,” through March 7th. We're open every Friday from 12–5 pm, and by appt by emailing [email protected]. We'd love to see you!

Created in close dialogue with the Andrews-Humphrey Family Foundation, the exhibition combines Benny Andrews’ (1930–2006) extensive archive with his paintings and drawings to reflect the fullness of the artist’s practice, life, and advocacy, and the ways they are intertwined.

Images: portrait of Benny Andrews by Nene Humphrey, courtesy of The Andrews-Humphrey Family Foundation; "Benny Andrews: Trouble" (installation view), 📷:

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