A Partnership for Local Artists

When Joe and Emily Lowe funded what would later become known as the Lowe Art Museum, they had no idea that it would blossom into the premiere art museum of South Florida. Originally launched as the University Art Gallery in three classrooms on the University of Miami campus in 1950, it was housed two years later in a free-standing facility paid for by the Lowe family. The young museum grew dramatically in 1956 with the donation of the Alfred I. Barton Collection of Native American Art (adding the first of several new wings) and then again in 1961 with works from the Samuel H. Kress Collection.

In 1968 the collection was officially renamed the Lowe Art Museum, and four years later became the first museum in South Florida to be professionally accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

Today it houses an extraordinary collection of nearly 19,000 objects that spans 5,000 years, including sculpture from Greco-Roman antiquity, paintings from the Renaissance, and art from the Americas, Africa, and Asia. It also has an entire pavilion devoted to contemporary glass and ceramics. 

With such a collection – augmented by rotating temporary exhibitions – the museum has played an important role as a teaching resource for UM as well as a cultural hub for the Gables and greater Miami.

Now the Lowe is joining forces with Gables philanthropist Ray Corral to touch lives and build community by leveraging the Mosaic Art Fund, a donor-advised fund administered by the Coral Gables Community Foundation to support local artists with unrestricted grants. Originally launched in 2023 as the Corral & Cathers Fund, the idea was to provide $5,000 grants to individual emerging artists, chosen by a panel headed by Catherine Cathers, the Arts and Cultural Coordinator for the city of Coral Gables. 

This year the award ceremony for those grants took place in the Lowe’s Beaux Arts Gallery with grants to 13 local artists. “Corral and his fund collaborator and co-founder Catherine Cathers gave winning artists – both emerging and established – fund specifically designed to buy them the greatest of all luxuries for any studio artist: time,” says Dr. Jill Deupi, who is the Beaux Arts Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Lowe.

Since then, the Corral & Cathers Fund has been relaunched as the Mosaic Art Fund, with the goal of attracting other like-minded philanthropists to create a substantial pool of financial resources for local, emerging, and mid-career artists in Coral Gables and Miami-Dade County. “There is a tremendous need for the private sector to help support the arts today, especially in light of the severe cuts to arts funding by the State of Florida,” says Corral. “And this is not just a benefit to these artists, but a prime pump for economic development.” Studies have shown that investment in arts results in significant economic impact for local

communities. (According to the Arts Action Alliance, the cultural sector in Miami-Dade – which lost $6.4 million in State funds this year – generates $2 billion in economic activity). The goal for the Mosaic Art Fund is to award grants valued at $250,000 next year, growing to more than $1 million by 2030.

The June awards event for the Corral & Cathers fund at the Lowe was such a success that Deupi is partnering with the non-profit on the museum’s most significant fund raiser for the year, the Evening of Art. Set to take place on the evening of Saturday, February 28, 2026, this signature event will feature a live auction of nearly fifty works of art contributed by local artists “who have transformed simple palettes into magnificent objects,” says Deupi. All prior grant recipients from the Corral & Cathers fund will be able to attend at no cost, and a “Fan Favorite” cash award will be awarded to the three most popular pieces as determined by popular vote.

To that end, the Lowe (which always offers free general admission to all, courtesy of Beaux Arts) will be opening its Palette Project display for public viewing on Wednesday, February 25 through Saturday, February 28 (10 am to 4 pm). While onsite, visitors will be able to vote for their favorite works, with the results being announced and cash prizes being given out at the Evening of Art itself.

“It sounds trite, but it truly does take a village,” says Deupi. “With Ray’s support, the Lowe is awash in new ideas, new energy, and new audiences.” Corral himself is an accomplished mosaic artist (lecturing this summer at the prestigious Friuli Mosaicists art college in Italy) and now a member of the Lowe’s Advisory Council, nominated for inclusion by Peter Zubizarreta, a wealth manager for UBS, who has chaired the council since 2023.

For those who wish to join the movement to fund the arts (and artists) in Coral Gables, you can contact Ray Corral | ray@mosaicist.com | 305-205-5944 or Mauricio Vivero, President & CEO of the Coral Gables Community Foundation | mauricio@gablesfoundation.org | 305-400-0255.