Bennington College Accelerates Campus Renewal Effort

September 8, 2005

Bennington College has received nearly $6 million in combined contributions from alumna and longtime supporter Penelope Perkins Wilson ’45 and the Getty Foundation, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles. A major gift from Ms. Wilson and a grant from the Getty Foundation are helping to build momentum for the College’s long-term campus master plan, completed in April 2004 under the direction of Kyu Sung Woo Architects and landscape architects Reed/Hilderbrand Associates.

Ms. Wilson’s $5.8 million gift planted the seed for the College’s campus master plan and will be used to support campus renewal during the coming years. “Penny helped us to look at the campus as a complex system instead of a patchwork of ideas,” says Elizabeth Coleman, president of Bennington College. “Because of the extraordinary magnitude of her philanthropy and its design, this gift will have a transforming effect on the campus.”

Among other projects, Ms. Wilson’s gift will support the College’s campus renewal program, which includes renovating and repairing academic buildings and student houses, landscaping and rebuilding paths and roads, and implementing an energy conservation program. In addition, the funds will be used to redefine the future use for the Commons building and an expanded Crossett Library.

Ms. Wilson’s gift comes at the heels of Bennington’s receipt of a $150,000 Campus Heritage Grant awarded by the Getty Foundation for the survey, assessment, and historic documentation of campus facilities. The grant will support an integral preservation plan for the historically significant campus and will complement Bennington College’s master plan by providing a means for the College to continue to identify and realize future capital initiatives. The two-year project, scheduled to begin this October, will incorporate the College’s innovative, hands-on educational approach ensuring student participation throughout the research and documentation phases of the preservation preparation.

“Bennington College has a passion to preserve the integrity of its historical structures. The Getty Foundation’s Campus Heritage grant will allow us to continue Bennington’s tradition and mission, because everything is a classroom here, from our buildings to our lawns; the campus aesthetic is inseparable from our intellectual mission,” explains Joan Goodrich, vice president for planning and special programs.

The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international, cultural, and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The Getty Trust and the Getty programs are located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Additional information is available on the Getty Web site at www.getty.edu.