Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald arts coverage will get boost with $200k gift from Pérez family
Susana Ibargüen loved the arts and journalism.
She dedicated herself to the Pérez Art Museum Miami and shared a passion for journalism with her husband, Alberto Ibargüen, a former publisher of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald and now president and CEO of the Knight Foundation.
To honor Susana Ibargüen — who died Aug. 28 after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation has pledged $200,000 to fund a bilingual multimedia arts journalist at the Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald.
“Strong local journalism is critical to a functioning society,” Jorge M. Pérez said in a release. “No matter who you are, or where you come from, art can transport you to new places, evoke powerful emotions and even spur action. It is these very feelings that led me to make art a cornerstone of my philanthropy and why I cannot wait to read about all of the talented artists and thought-provoking work discovered as part of this new program.”
The grant was announced Tuesday night at a virtual event inaugurating Friends of the Miami Herald, a tax-deductible support group for those donors who contribute $1,000 or more a year to the Miami Herald Impact Journalism Fund at the Miami Foundation.
In 2019, the Miami Herald announced a partnership with the Miami Foundation to launch the Miami Herald Investigative Journalism Fund, which bolsters investigative reporting in South Florida through tax-deductible donations.
In 2020, Ron and Charlene Esserman and their family announced The Esserman Family Fund for Investigative Journalism at the Miami Foundation and pledged $2.5 million to help fund investigative journalism in South Florida.
The Pérez Family Foundation grant will allow the Miami Herald to hire a bilingual journalist to focus on arts and culture for two years. Stories will appear in both the Miami Herald and el Nuevo.
“More than ever our readers are looking to us, a trusted news source, to meet them where they are with strong local content on a range of topics including the arts — an economic driver in South Florida,” said Monica R. Richardson, executive editor of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald and McClatchy Florida Regional Editor. “This generous gift will allow the Miami Herald to have greater impact and better serve the community in English and Spanish and to grow our arts coverage across multiple platforms, reaching existing and new audiences.”
Susana Ibargüen was a longtime supporter and past board president of the Pérez Art Museum Miami and also served as a volunteer board member of the Miami Dade Cultural Affairs Council, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Funding Arts Network, which supports emerging artists and cultural institutions in Miami.
“This gift not only honors Susana, but makes a statement about the importance of making available to everyone information about arts and culture,” said her husband Alberto. “Movies, concerts, art exhibits, readings, dance and more are all part of our culture. They make us want to be here and want to share with each other. To fully participate (and enjoy!), people need regular and reliable information and that’s what this gift will do.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
