PORTLAND, ME.- Thanks to a generous donation by local business leader, philanthropist, and arts advocate David E. Shaw, the PMA will open the David E. Shaw and Family Sculpture Park in the summer of 2017.

It has long been a wish of the PMA to make the Joan B. Burns Garden—located on High Street and currently closed to the public except for specific museum programming—an outdoor sculpture park available for the entire Portland community to enjoy and explore. Through the Shaw family’s donation, the David E. Shaw and Family Sculpture Park will be accessible to all through a gate on High Street, free to the public, and open year-round during museum hours beginning in summer 2017.

“The Shaw family is pleased to play a leadership role in creating a public sculpture park at the Portland Museum of Art,” shares Shaw. “We do this with great appreciation of the benefit of art to society. This park will provide public access to an artistic oasis in a cultural center of our community.”

Inspired by the upcoming culmination of Your Museum, Reimagined, the PMA’s multiyear project based on improved experiences with the collection, Shaw—an avid collector of sculpture—saw an opportunity to support the museum and permanently impact the greater Portland community. His donation aligns with the direction of the PMA under its new five-year Strategic Plan, which seeks to actively find ways to make the museum’s collection, historic buildings, and campus accessible to all, and to be “a leader in the growth and vibrancy of Portland’s urban and cultural transformation, including the revitalization of the Congress Square neighborhood”.

Through this generosity, the Shaws provide a gift that enables Portland and its surrounding communities to enjoy and to engage with art in a truly unique, intimate, and beautiful setting free of charge—one of the only green spaces in the heart of the arts district. His gift also accelerates the PMA’s plans for more artwork in the park, including acquisitions to be announced later, which will be installed in the park prior to its opening in 2017.

“By sharing his love of sculpture and commitment to Maine,” says PMA Director Mark Bessire, “David has brought art and public access to our community through a vibrant sculpture park in the heart of Portland. In life and business, David's creative thinking and care for people has made him an incredible collector, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. We are extremely thankful for this gift to our museum and city from the Shaw family.”

David Evans Shaw is Managing Partner of Black Point Group with wide-ranging interests in technology companies and public service. His business creation, leadership, investment, and board experience includes more than a dozen technology companies, including IDEXX Laboratories. Shaw’s public service has included the State of Maine executive department, the faculty of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Treasurer of AAAS, the world’s largest general science society, chair of The Jackson Laboratory and trustee of the National Park Foundation. He has travelled extensively around the world and has produced dozens of films on his experiences including a feature film for the National Park Centennial.