Mystic Seaport has received a $1 million gift from the Thompson Family Foundation to support the Thompson Exhibition Building, the museum’s first new exhibition building in more than four decades.
The foundation’s gift caps the $15.3 million required to fund the exhibition building and the McGraw Gallery Quadrangle project. This fundraising effort was scheduled to conclude on Dec. 31.
The building opened to visitors on Sept. 24.
Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport, said the family and foundation support “has been critical” to the transformation of the museum’s grounds and the museum’s capacity to usher in a “New Era for Exhibitions.”
The Thompson Building is the cornerstone and final element of the McGraw Gallery Quadrangle, a unifying project at the north end of the museum. The building’s first exhibit, “Sea-Change,” a presentation of beautiful and unique objects drawn from the collections of Mystic Seaport, opens Dec. 10.
