First Citizens Bank to Donate $100,000 to St. John's Museum of Art

December 09, 1999

RALEIGH, N.C. — First Citizens Bank announced today that it will donate $100,000 to Wilmington's St. John's Museum of Art. The gift will support the museum's capital campaign to build a larger facility at a new site in Wilmington.

First Citizens Area Vice President John Whitley will make the formal announcement and present the museum a large glass check during a new exhibition of studio glasswork opening at St. John's Museum tonight, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. Several hundred Wilmington arts patrons and business leaders are expected to attend the event.

"First Citizens Bank is committed to the arts and to ensuring the state's artistic heritage is preserved and displayed for future generations," said Whitley. "The arts improve the quality of life in our state, and we are proud to make this gift to the museum."

St. John's Museum plans to honor the bank's donation by designating the largest changing exhibition gallery in the new building as the "First Citizens Bank Changing Exhibition Gallery." The gallery will feature 1,488 square feet of space. Its trapezoid-shaped design will be the architectural focal point of the changing exhibition wing. In addition to the First Citizens gallery, the wing includes three adjacent galleries and an entrance into a sculpture garden.

"We are grateful to First Citizens Bank for making this generous gift to our new museum," said Franklin Block, chairman of the museum's capital campaign. "We commend the bank's long-standing history of supporting the state's cultural community."

Earlier this year, First Citizens was awarded the Governor's Business Award for its support of the arts and humanities in North Carolina.

St. John's Museum only has 11 percent of its permanent collection on display due to lack of gallery space. The new museum will have 42,000 square feet of space and will be called the Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum. Groundbreaking for construction is scheduled for April 2000, with completion slated for September 2001.

The Louise Wells Cameron Museum will represent the first art museum in southeastern North Carolina to be entirely designed and constructed from the ground up rather than pieced together from pre-existing buildings. It will be the only museum dedicated to all aspects of collecting, preserving, documenting and displaying North Carolina art. The total cost of the new museum is expected to be $10.5 million. The capital campaign has already reached half of that goal.

The new museum is being designed by architect Charles Gwathmey, one of the most noted museum designers in the United States. Gwathmey, a Charlotte native, is best known for his renovation and addition to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

First Citizens Bank has more than 125 associates working at six branches in Wilmington and an office at Carolina Beach.

In North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia the bank operates 361 branches in more than 200 communities. Headquartered in Raleigh, First Citizens has $9.58 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank is committed to providing superior financial services to individual customers and small to mid-sized businesses. The bank has been working on its Year 2000 (Y2K) preparedness strategy since 1996 and is now ready for the Year 2000 date change. For more information on the bank's Year 2000 program, call toll free 1-877-Y2K-4-FCB (1-877-925-4322), email us or visit our web site.

For more information, contact:
Barbara Thompson
(919) 716-2716
First Citizens Bank