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Woodmere Art Museum and the Maguire Foundation announce a grant of $10 million to create the Frances M. Maguire Hall for Art and Education, renaming the former Saint Michael’s Hall and enabling Woodmere’s renovation of the historic Chestnut Hill estate.

Woodmere will transform the generous parlors and bedrooms of the mansion to create galleries for the Museum’s permanent collection of works by Philadelphia’s artists, a hands-on children’s art and education center, a museum café, and public programming spaces. Just seventy steps from Woodmere’s main building on Germantown Avenue, Frances M. Maguire Hall enables Woodmere to expand on its mission to offer experiences with the art and artists of Philadelphia.

Frances M. Maguire (1935–2020) was an artist and philanthropist, who, with her husband James J. Maguire, founded the Maguire Foundation. Known to family and friends and throughout the art community as Frannie, she was a much-beloved advocate who believed that art opens the mind and the soul alike, promoting spiritual health and self-expression.

Mrs. Maguire served on Woodmere’s Board of Trustees from 1989 through 1995, thereafter serving continuously as an emeritus trustee and as a member of its Collection Management Committee. Megan Maguire Nicoletti, one of Frances and James Maguire’s children and the CEO of the Maguire Foundation, said, “My mother saw the world through the unique eyes of an artist and found beauty in surprising places, where no other person did. In creating Frances M. Maguire Hall and supporting Woodmere, we are assuring that her legacy is shared with current and future generations.”

We extend our deepest gratitude to the Maguire Foundation for their invaluable support of Woodmere and the arts in Philadelphia. This extraordinary gift, the largest in Woodmere’s history, builds on a foundation of support and community engagement that brought us to this exciting moment. Thank you all.

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Woodmere Art Museum | 9201 Germantown AvenuePhiladelphia, PA 19118