CLEVELAND - The Key Foundation today issued a $1.5 million grant to the Cleveland Museum of Art. In addition to funding the museum's capital campaign, the grant supports programs exploring how diversity and inclusion influence the arts and underwrites development of educational initiatives that will employ Cleveland Municipal School students and expose area college students to Latin-American cultures.

"Diversity, philanthropy and outreach are an inherent part of every museum goer's experience," says James T. Bartlett, president of the Cleveland Museum of Art board of trustees. "They are pillars for sustained excellence in the assembly of exhibitions, community involvement and education. Key's funding of the development of our educational programs will make that clearly evident by harnessing these pillars for sustained excellence in communities across Northeast Ohio."

Key is currently working with the museum to establish and sponsor the KeyBank Summer Arts Internship Program to provide paid museum internships to students of Key's partner school, East High, which currently is forming separate theme schools focusing on the arts, business, human services and science. A yet-to-be-determined number of student interns will rotate among the museum's various departments over the summer in a manner similar to the Cleveland Museum of Art's Museum Associates Program, with exposure to the visual arts and behind-the-scenes operations. The internship program will be the first to distinguish East High School for its concentration on the arts and serve as a model for the museum to secure internship funding from other business/high school partnerships.

The Cleveland Museum of Art will also expand its Museum Ambassadors Program to include East High School. Instituted in 2001, the Museum Ambassadors Program annually involves 84 students from nine high schools in monthly educational sessions about the visual arts and the museum's operations. These "ambassadors" then share with others their multicultural experiences and knowledge about the museum's inner workings, collections and special exhibits, program offerings and related careers.

Under the grant, the museum will also advance its educational outreach to be more inclusive of Latin-American cultures through a bilingual distance learning program consisting of at least 30 classroom video conferences focused on the art of the Ancient Americas, Spanish, Aztec and Mayan cultures. The program will meet the fine arts education criteria at Cuyahoga Community College, Lakeland Community College and Lorain Community College.

The distance learning program complements a number of collaborative efforts Key is taking to unite and empower Cleveland's growing Hispanic community. Last month, the KeyBank Hispanic Initiatives Series ( http://ofccolo.snl.com/cache/1500006237.pdf) kicked off at the City Club of Cleveland to engage area residents and local leaders in dialogues moving the Hispanic community to play a larger, more active role in the economic, educational, civic, political and social life of greater Cleveland. Key is also funding Hispanic-student scholarships at Cuyahoga Community College and currently working with Lakeland Community College to develop a financial literacy program for Hispanic students. This, in addition to helping the college's low-income minority students overcome barriers to completing their education.

Art in its simplest form is about understanding people, according Margot J. Copeland, chair of the Key Foundation and executive vice president of corporate diversity and philanthropy at KeyCorp
(NYSE: KEY).

"So often it's the human element, the perseverance behind the creation of a great piece of art - or any great accomplishment for that matter - that significantly influences our overall experience and regard for differentiating a masterpiece," says Copeland. "Society is often more intrigued by what drove one to achieve than the achievement itself. From this perspective, physical expansion of Cleveland Museum of Art is deeply enriched by its perseverance to expand minds. For it's the art of who we are within that is truly priceless and worth preserving."

Encompassing nearly 400,000 square feet in four buildings, the Cleveland Museum of Art is undertaking a $258 million capital campaign to provide new and renewed galleries, improved and expanded special exhibition space, and an enhanced and more inviting visitor experience. Expansion of Cleveland Museum of Art is reported to be the largest cultural project the region has ever experienced. It is estimated that the project will directly generate more than 12 million visitors from outside the area and more than
$1 billion in regional economic impact over the next two decades.

The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of America's leading comprehensive museums. Its permanent collection is world renowned for its quality and breadth, spanning 6,000 years. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship and art acquisitions. For more information on the museum, its holdings, programs, services and events, call 1-888-CMA-0033 or visit www.ClevelandArt.org.

KeyCorp
Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $91 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally. Contact Key Foundation Senior Program Officer Quentin McCorvey at 216.689.5505, or Quentin_mccorvey@keybank.com, for more information about corporate grants. Visit the KeyCorp page on Corporate Social Responsibility Wire at http://www.csrwire.com/csr/company.mpl?company=993 for a compilation of news releases about the company relative to philanthropic investment, diversity, community development, corporate governance, environment, business ethics, human rights, and workplace issues.

Note to Editors: For up-to-date company information, media contacts and facts and figures about Key lines of business, visit our Media Newsroom at Key.com/newsroom.

KeyBank

KeyBank

KeyCorp's roots trace back 190 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $176.2 billion at March 31, 2021. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,100 branches and more than 1,400 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC. 

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