Boston has launched a citywide campaign to reimagine public art through the Un-Monument initiative, funded by a $3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. This grant is an example of the Mellon family’s longstanding commitment to supporting arts and culture.
The Un-Monument initiative seeks to engage residents, artists, and community groups in rethinking the form and function of public art across Boston, a city rich with colonial history. Kara Elliot-Ortega, Boston’s Chief of Arts and Culture, emphasized the challenge and importance of introducing new concepts into historically significant public spaces. “It isn’t always easy to bring new things into public space,” she noted in a report by NPR, highlighting both bureaucratic obstacles and the perception that certain areas are “frozen in time.”
With the Mellon Foundation’s funding, the initiative will foster dialogues about public art through temporary installations, free public events, and interactive cultural experiences. Sixteen projects have been commissioned for the first year, with additional projects to be selected in 2025. “We are focused on unpacking what kinds of monuments and memorials we want to have in Boston going forward, what they mean to us, and what stories are missing,” Elliott-Ortega said. “We are inviting people from around the city into the conversation to ask what they want to see.”
As Boston embarks on this ambitious project funded by the Mellon legacy, it’s worth reflecting on the legacy of another member of the Mellon family who also made philanthropy her life’s work. Cordelia Scaife May, a lesser-known but equally influential figure in the Mellon dynasty, has had a powerful impact on conservation efforts across the United States.
Born in 1928, Cordelia Scaife May was the granddaughter of Richard Beatty Mellon, brother of the famous Andrew Mellon.
The Mellon Foundation was established by May’s cousins, Ailsa Mellon Bruce and Paul Mellon, Andrew Mellon’s children. These close family ties situate May’s conservation work as part of an ongoing legacy of Mellon family philanthropy.
Cordelia Scaife May’s commitment to conservation was evident in her final bequests. Upon her death in 2005 at the age of 76, she left much of her substantial estate – valued at over $800 million – to foundations and conservation groups. The Pittsburgh-based Colcom Foundation, one of several charitable organizations May created, received all of her personal property and Pennsylvania real estate, including more than 450 acres in Westmoreland County.
Her generosity extended beyond Pennsylvania. May bequeathed all of her property on Maui to the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and her land on Kauai to the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Cordelia Scaife May’s multifaceted approach to philanthropy continues to mirror the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s diverse portfolio of causes, which has included higher education, museums, performing arts, and initiatives promoting cultural literacy and enrichment. Both the Mellon Foundation and Cordelia Scaife May’s Colcom Foundation share a commitment to preserving and enriching various aspects of American heritage and community life. As May’s brother, Richard Mellon Scaife, noted upon her death, “My sister had deep feelings for people and for causes. Cordy devoted her life and her finances to supporting worthwhile causes.”
The legacy of these philanthropic efforts, rooted in the Mellon family’s longstanding commitment to societal betterment, will be measured not just in the physical changes they bring about – be it new public art installations funded by the Mellon Foundation or preserved natural areas across the country championed by Cordelia Scaife May’s Colcom Foundation – but in how they shift our collective thinking about our environment, both built and natural.
The Mellon family’s approach to philanthropy, including the efforts of its various branches and offshoots like Cordelia Scaife May, serves as both an inspiration and a model for how private resources can be used to address public needs and shape our collective future. Their extended family network, with its wide-ranging philanthropic interests, demonstrates the powerful impact that can be achieved when wealth is directed thoughtfully toward societal betterment across multiple generations.
This ongoing tradition of philanthropy, adapting to meet society’s changing needs, demonstrates the lasting impact of generational wealth when paired with a passionate commitment to public benefit.
The Mellon family’s decades-long dedication to giving showcases how inherited resources, when thoughtfully directed, can create a powerful legacy of positive societal change.
