Blank foundation donates $10 million to Spelman College

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation is providing Spelman College $10 million to assist with curriculum and training to help students aspiring to become entrepreneurs and participating in different forms of research, officials announced Thursday.

The grant will be used to create the Arthur M. Blank Innovation Lab, a hub for Spelman’s Center for Innovation & the Arts that is slated to open in 2024.

“Today’s young entrepreneurs will play an important role in solving many of our society’s most critical issues, and we’re pleased to support Spelman in creating a place where students can come together to share and test ideas that will also create more opportunities for positive engagement and growth with the local Westside community,” Blank, the foundation’s chairman and Atlanta Falcons owner, said in a statement.

The center will house all of Spelman’s arts programs — art, art history, curatorial studies, dance, digital media, documentary filmmaking, photography, music and theater. The college also hopes to use the center to build bridges to the Westside Atlanta community. It will include Spelman’s expanded Museum of Fine Art, a digital theater housing publicly accessible performances, technology events and film screenings.

“This momentous gift will allow the college to build on an existing culture of strong innovation and entrepreneurship activity that will help grow a pool of Black entrepreneurs,” said Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell.

Spelman and other historically Black colleges and universities have historically received fewer donations of this size, but that somewhat increased in recent years. Spelman trustee Ronda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston, contributed $30 million for the center in 2018.