Gard Foundation

The Robert E. Gard Foundation is committed to helping people and their communities discover the vital role the arts play in their day-to-day lives.

Explore the links to learn more about the Robert E. Gard Foundation and about the man himself.

Reginald Edmund is the 2021 Gard Foundation Award of Excellence recipient!

Learn more about Reginald here.

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“[I’m] editing the memoir of a family friend who’s 95 and still lives alone in the U.P.  I’ve always thought of Joe (Kirkish) as the Renaissance man and photographer laureate of Copper Country, and now am getting to delve deeply into his life story. Among the many interesting facets of his education and career I discovered:  when he was a Theater/Speech graduate student at U of W in the early 1950s, he worked with Bob Gard in the Wisconsin Idea Theater! Indeed, he credits Bob with planting the seed for his own vision about how an academic institution can/should support cultural development in its environs.” — Meg Ostrum

We have spent several years undertaking an oral history project with the Archives and Records Management program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.

We’re excited to announce that the recordings are now completed and available! Board member emeritus Harv Thompson – Gard’s successor in the extension arts programs – assembled previous interviews and conducted new interviews that highlight the perspectives of 18 former professors or administrators about the extension arts programs.

Visit the oral history project here.

Read four blog posts about the book, To Change the Face & Heart of America, and purchase the book here!