PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, the U.S. Pavilion's exhibition at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, has received a 2025 Graham Foundation grant. The foundation's support recognizes the project's significance, originality, and positive impact, and joins a broader base of existing institutional, private and individual contributions, including expansive artistic programming support from the Ford Foundation.

Organized by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas in partnership with DesignConnects and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, PORCH is co-commissioned by Peter MacKeith, Susan Chin, and Rod Bigelow. The presentation and site-specific installation positions the American PORCH as a powerful architectural and cultural space of welcoming, community, and imagination, and aligns with the Biennale's overarching theme Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.

Since its debut, PORCH has drawn steady attendance from architecture, design, and culture luminaries, as well as students, educators, and community organizers from around the world. A series of PORCH Fests has further enhanced the exhibition, adding special programming to the Pavilion during American cultural milestones. A forthcoming activation will take place over Labor Day Weekend, Aug. 30 to Sept. 1. Titled "Celebrate Work and Play," the program honors labor and creativity through performances, participatory workshops, and conversations on shared experience.

Highlights of the "Celebrate Work and Play" PORCH Fest include hands-on embroidery circles with Danielle Hatch, collaborative building sessions by Somewhere Studio, readings from the PORCH Library, and "Growing on the Porch" conversations led by Francesca Zampollo and Katie Robertson that explore design and food security.

The weekend also features Conjure Woman, an intimate gathering of sound, storytelling, and song led by award-winning vocalist, composer, and librettist Imani Uzuri. The performance celebrates the archetype, iconography, and mythology of conjure women in African American culture, religion, and literature. In addition, artist Sheryl Oring, the Creative Capital artist behind Activating Democracy: The "I Wish to Say" Project, will lead What We Work For, a participatory activation inviting visitors to reflect on the meaning of labor through personal stories.

Finally, a Design Dialogue will bring together Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, of the design team and Marlon Blackwell Architects, with Stephen Luoni of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center and exhibitors Katherine Hogan (Katherine Hogan Architects), Matteo Milani (Pei Cobb Freed & Partners), and Matt Niebuhr (RDG Planning & Design). 

"We are grateful to the Graham Foundation and to the many institutional, private, and individual supporters who have shared our belief in the power of PORCH to spark relevant global conversation about architecture and design," said Peter MacKeith, Dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas. "As we approach Labor Day, our third PORCH Fest highlights how places of gathering can shape shared narratives of work, play, community, and imagination."

"The Graham Foundation's support, together with that of so many contributors who have made PORCH possible, is inspiring," said Susan Chin, founding principal, DesignConnects. "Our Labor Day programming, which is rooted in participation, storytelling, and collective learning, reminds us that porches, like labor itself, benefit from the efforts of many. At every scale, porches embody the dignity of creative work and affirm its role in how we live today and how we design for the future."

"PORCH demonstrates what is possible when foundations, institutions, and individuals come together in support of architecture, design, and art," said Rod Bigelow, executive ddirector, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary. "Labor Day weekend is the perfect moment to gather in celebration of PORCH's community of architects, designers, artists, musicians, and citizens whose work and dedication enrich and elevate our cultural lives."

The final PORCH Fest will occur during Closing Weekend (Nov. 21-23). Working alongside the Co-Commissioners, Cynthia Post Hunt, curator of artists-in-residence and performance at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary, serves as PORCH Fests' public programming coordinator, helping to shape the dynamic and inclusive lineups. All programming is included with Biennale admission.

For PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, a design team comprised of Marlon Blackwell Architects, Stephen Burks Man Made, D.I.R.T. studio, and TEN x TEN worked with the co-commissioners to transform the Pavilion into a contemporary PORCH. Built from prefabricated mass timber and rammed earth of Venetian provenance, the exhibition features curated art and objects, generous seating, and a shaded platform for dialogue and exchange.

Inside the Pavilion, 54 participants from across the U.S. and its territories showcase the diversity of contemporary American design, each contributing an immersive "PORCH window." Selected through a national juried Open Call, the participants offer a multifaceted portrait of American architecture that spans geographies, scales, disciplines, and identities. For the interior presentation, Jonathan Boelkins served as the Interior Exhibition Design Architect, crafting a cohesive spatial experience that honors each exhibitor's approach to their "PORCH window."

Additionally, a 132-foot researched exhibit, entitled American Porch Life, wraps the installation on salon walls. This display traces the history and genealogy of the American porch, and its evolving role in American culture, offering visitors insight into the architectural, social, and symbolic significance of the enduring typology.

An ongoing display of PORCH: A Library brings a curated collection of texts that explore the porch as a threshold of learning, memory, and imagination. This exhibition element invites visitors to reflect on spaces where private life meets public engagement and where individual experience gives way to collective understanding.

PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity will remain on view at the Biennale through Nov. 23. For more information, visit porchusavenice2025.org.

About The Organizers 

The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas advances design excellence through a multi-disciplinary, place-responsive design education, in service to Arkansas, the nation and the world. Within the curricular context of an excellent professional design education, the school provides a vital design culture and educational environment grounded in critical design thinking, multidisciplinary collaborations and civic engagement. Founded in 1946 with degree programs in architecture, and named in honor of the Arkansas-born Fay Jones, the 1990 AIA Gold Medalist, today the school is constituted by nationally recognized degree programs in architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture, as well as the award-winning University of Arkansas Community Design Center, the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation and Garvan Woodland Gardens, a botanical garden in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Across the school, students focus on issues of community with a global awareness, designing for the lives of real people and towards a better environment, through a responsible emphasis on the materiality and experience of design, preparing students to work productively across geographies, societies and cultures. 

As Arkansas's flagship institution, the University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas's economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News. 

DesignConnects's mission is to create and nurture places and organizations using art and design, collaboration and civic leadership. DesignConnects provides services in design, nonprofit management, community engagement, advocacy, policy making, government operations and public/private partnerships, associated with culture, architecture, preservation, landscape and urban design and planning. Recent projects include: Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden; New York Chinese Scholar's Garden renovation; and Portland, Oregon's Back to Square One: Rethinking O'Bryant Square. 

The mission of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of nature. Since opening in 2011, the museum has welcomed more than 14 million visitors across its spaces, with no cost for admission. Crystal Bridges was founded in 2005 as a non-profit charitable organization by arts patron and philanthropist, Alice Walton. The collection spans five centuries of American masterworks from early American to current day and is enhanced by temporary exhibitions. The museum is nestled on 134 acres of Ozark landscape and was designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie. A rare Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house was preserved and relocated to the museum grounds in 2015. Home of the prestigious Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art and Tyson Scholars of American Art Program, Crystal Bridges offers public programs including lectures, performances, classes, and teacher development opportunities. Some 478,375 school children have participated in the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit program, which provides educational experiences for school groups at no cost to the schools. Additional museum amenities include a restaurant, gift store, library, and five miles of art and walking trails. In February 2020, the museum opened the Momentary in Downtown Bentonville (507 SE E Street), conceived as a platform for the art, food, and music of our time. In 2026, Crystal Bridges will complete a 114,000 square foot expansion that will allow the museum to expand access for all. For more information, visit CrystalBridges.org. The museum is located at 600 Museum Way, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712. 

ABOUT LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

Established in 1895, La Biennale di Venezia is considered the most prestigious institution, with its International Art and Architecture Exhibitions. Introducing hundreds of thousands of visitors to exciting new architecture every two years, the 19th International Biennale Architettura of La Biennale di Venezia (May 10 to Nov. 23) will be curated by architect and engineer Carlo Ratti. Learn more about the Biennale Architettura 2025.

The United States Pavilion at the Giardini della Biennale, a building in the neoclassical style, opened on May 4, 1930. Since 1986, The U.S. Pavilion has been owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and managed by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, which works closely with the U.S. Department of State and exhibition curators to install and maintain all official U.S. exhibitions presented in the Pavilion. Every two years, museum curators from across the U.S. detail their visions for the U.S. Pavilion in proposals that are reviewed by the National Endowment of the Arts Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions, a group comprising curators, museum directors and artists who then submit their recommendations to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Past exhibitions can be viewed on the Peggy Guggenheim Collection website.

The United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) supports and manages official U.S. participation at the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia. ECA builds relationships between the people of the United States and the people of other countries through academic, cultural, sports, professional and private exchanges, as well as public-private partnerships. These exchange programs improve foreign relations and strengthen the national security of the United States, support U.S. international leadership and provide a broad range of domestic benefits. Learn more about the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affars.