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Nita Ambani Elected to the Board of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nita Ambani Elected to the Board of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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First Indian Trustee in the Museum’s History

Educationist,

philanthropist, and businesswoman Nita Ambani has been named an Honorary

Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced by the Museum's Chairman

Daniel Brodsky. Ambani’s election took place at the November 12 meeting of the

Board and she is the first Indian to be honored.

Brodsky commented:

“Mrs. Ambani’s commitment to The Met and to preserving and promoting India’s

art and culture is truly exceptional. Her support has an enormous impact on the

Museum’s ability to study and display art from every corner of the world. It is

a pleasure to welcome Nita Ambani to the Board.”

Nita Ambani said, “It

has been deeply rewarding for me over the past several years to support The

Metropolitan Museum of Art in its desire to expand and enhance its program of

exhibiting the arts of India. I have been moved and impressed by The Met’s keen

interest, which enables our commitment to seeing Indian art and culture

represented on the global platform. This great distinction inspires me to

redouble my efforts on behalf of India’s heritage, from the ancient to the

contemporary.”

Nita Ambani is the

Founder and Chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, an Indian philanthropic

organization that has supported The Met since 2016, beginning with the

exhibition Nasreen Mohamedi. That presentation was the first museum

retrospective of the artist's work in the United States and was also one of The

Met Breuer's inaugural exhibitions.

In 2017, the Reliance

Foundation committed to support exhibitions that explore and celebrate the arts

of India. The first exhibition to benefit from this gift was Modernism on the

Ganges: Raghubir Singh Photographs (October 11, 2017–January 2, 2018), followed

by Phenomenal Nature: Mrinalini Mukherjee (June 4–September 29, 2019), which

marked the first comprehensive display of Mukherjee’s work in the United

States.

Other exhibitions that

will benefit from this sponsorship include the upcoming Tree and Serpent: Early

Buddhist Art in India, 200 B.C.–A.D. 400, opening November 10, 2020, at The Met

Fifth Avenue, along with exhibitions that will cover such topics as

17th-century Mughal art and contemporary Indian sculpture.

In 2017, the Museum

honored Nita Ambani at The Met Winter Party, an event celebrating the

achievements of those who foster greater diversity and inclusion in the world

of art. Generous with her time and expertise, Ambani is also a member of The

Met's International Council.

Nita Ambani is

especially committed to preserving and promoting India’s art, culture, and

heritage. Reliance Foundation has sponsored key cultural events such as The

Elephanta Festival, and Abbaji, the annual concert of master musician Ustad

Zakir Hussain, among the many efforts to recognize the cultural legends of

India and ensure their relevance to a younger generation. In its initiatives to

advance knowledge of Indian arts internationally, the Foundation has supported

not only the series of exhibitions at The Met but also presentations such as

Gates of the Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings at the Art Institute of

Chicago.

In her role as Founder

and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation, Mrs. Ambani has impacted the lives of

more than 34 million people across India through the organization’s initiatives

in rural transformation; health; education; sports for development;

disaster response; arts, culture and heritage; and urban renewal. The

Foundation’s education program pays special attention to gender equity to

increase much-needed opportunities for girls and young women. The Foundation’s

Dhirubhai Ambani Scholarship has so far provided financial support to 12,000

students to pursue graduation in any institution of their choice—nearly half of

these scholarships are given to girls.

In 2017, Nita Ambani

received the prestigious Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award from the President of

India for the work of Reliance Foundation in the area of sports for

development. In 2016, Forbes listed Mrs. Ambani as one of the 50 most powerful

businesswomen in Asia. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee and

is the first Indian woman to serve in that role.

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