About Turrell Art Foundation
To realize and support James Turrell’s Roden Crater — a large-scale land artwork and observatory for experiencing light, time and landscape — by completing construction, conserving the site, and preparing it for public access and contemplation.
Focus Areas
visual artsland artpublic artart conservationarchitecturevisitor experience
Who They Fund
general public/visitorsart audiences and patronsscholars and educators in visual artslocal/regional communities benefiting from cultural infrastructure
Funding Style
capital project supportsite-specific project funding
About Turrell Art Foundation
Turrell Art Foundation’s grantmaking is centered on Roden Crater, the large-scale land artwork and observatory created by James A Turrell for experiencing light, time, and landscape. The foundation’s recent giving shows a single, project-driven pattern: one grant of $10,693,856 in 2025 to Skystone Foundation in Flagstaff for Roden Crater Projects. That scale aligns with the foundation’s stated purpose of completing construction, conserving the site, and preparing it for public access and contemplation. The work sits at the intersection of land art realization, cultural infrastructure development, and public opening for visitors and scholars. Rather than distributing support across unrelated fields, the foundation channels its resources toward the same site and its surrounding needs, including construction, conservation, and visitor experience. The result is a grantmaking profile built around a specific artwork and the infrastructure required to bring it to public use. Because the foundation’s giving is tied to a single land-based project, the grantee relationship is operational as well as philanthropic, with support connected to building and maintaining the site itself.
What Turrell Art Foundation Funds
In land art realization, Turrell Art Foundation backs the construction and long-term completion of Roden Crater, the project associated with James A Turrell. The foundation’s stated aim is to realize and support the work as a large-scale land artwork and observatory. Its support also reaches conservation and preservation. The foundation’s focus includes art conservation, and its summary emphasizes conserving the site while it is being completed. Public access is another clear theme. The foundation is preparing Roden Crater for public opening and contemplation, which connects its grantmaking to visitor experience and enabling infrastructure rather than exhibition-only support. Architecture is part of the mix as well, reflecting the built elements needed for a site-specific artwork of this scale.
How Turrell Art Foundation Gives
Turrell Art Foundation’s reported grant size is singular in the available data: the p25, median, and p75 are all $10,693,856, matching the 2025 grant amount. That indicates one large award in the current dataset rather than a spread of small grants. The pattern is highly concentrated. The foundation gives locally, and the recent record shows 100% of grants to recipients in Arizona, with support directed to a single in-state recipient. The available data points to project-based funding tied to a specific site, not a broad operating grant program. The foundation also accepts unsolicited contributions through its Friends of Roden Crater program, which supports construction and operations for the art site.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$10.7M
Total Assets
$108.7M
Total Revenue
$2.4M
Total Expenses
$12.6M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $10.7M and $10.7M, with a median of $10.7M.
25th Percentile
$10.7M
Median
$10.7M
75th Percentile
$10.7M
Geographic Reach
Local1 state funded
About 100% of grants go to recipients in AZ.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
James A Turrell
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