Leonard and Renee Minsky. Photo credit: Northern Light Foundation
Leonard Minsky died Feb. 21, 2022, at the age of 94. Read his obituary here.
Thanks to a couple’s passion for the arts, youngsters in Downeast Maine have opportunities to explore their creativity through paper marbling, puppet shows, music, and more – now and into the future.
Renee Minsky and her husband, former MaineCF board member Leonard Minsky, established their Fund for Arts Education in 2006 with hopes it could fill in where public school funding fell short. Since then, the fund has awarded 76 grants totaling just over $65,000. The grants support artists who work with third- through fifth-grade students and their teachers in public schools in Penobscot and Washington counties.
The Minskys’ love for the arts began early in life. “Leonard grew up with music and played the trumpet from about age nine up until just about a year ago when everything shut down very suddenly and the band he was playing with stopped performing,” says Renee.
Renee’s parents were always “doing something” with theater. “In an era when people were designing lavish rec rooms in their basements,” she recalls, “we had a full-scale theater, complete with footlights, velvet curtains, and a dressing room that on occasion served as a laundry room.”
After moving to Bangor from Worcester, Massachusetts, Renee set up a children’s theater program in the public schools, her focus for the next 30-plus years. “That experience gave me insight to what the arts were doing for children,” she says.
“I’ve always believed that education should be something more than vocational training,” says Leonard. He sees the arts as a vital way to help create a whole person.
A student at the Fruit Street School in Bangor learns the art of paper marbling. Photo credit: Wendy Libby
One Minsky-funded program, “The Zen of Japanese Paper Marbling,” brought Belfast-based artist-educator Bridget Matros to five Bangor schools where she taught 276 third-graders Suminagashi, the art of paper marbling.
“This no-fail technique gave students confidence in their abilities to create,” says Fruit Street School art teacher Wendy Libby. She recalled one special needs student who overcame his reluctance to try art and created a beautiful piece that made him proud.
“It’s beneficial for students to meet someone beside their art teacher who has pursued art as a profession,” says Libby. Adds Kelly Ellis, a music teacher at Mary Snow and Fairmount schools in Bangor, “This funding was critical to exposing students to live performances of music, from classical to rhythms of the African New World, that they might not hear at home.”
The Minskys’ daughter Marilyn Minsky Melton is the fund’s successor advisor. Like her parents she has been involved with the arts for much of her life, as a professional singer and a teacher. She taught at the East End Community School in Portland where she was recognized for developing the Glee Club.
Leonard and Renee have also established the Minsky Charitable Fund, which will be endowed through their will. MaineCF will continue to grow the fund and make grants to organizations the couple supported during their lifetimes. “You can’t legislate from the grave,” Leonard says. “You want to have confidence that your wishes are going to be followed.”
Planned Giving
Thinking about the future? We’re here to help.
It’s hard to predict the most pressing needs of tomorrow – and where your charitable dollars could make the most impact. Years of respecting donors’ wishes by combining flexibility and permanence make the Maine Community Foundation an ideal place to leave a planned gift through your will.
Your planning can start with a spark of an idea you can craft through conversation with MaineCF staff.
Here are some ways you can partner with MaineCF to benefit Maine:
- provide unrestricted funds to address future needs in Maine
- create a permanent fund to provide annual grants to one or more nonprofits
- set up a donor-advised fund for your children so they can make grants
- establish a scholarship fund
- support a geographic region or specific interest area such as youth, the environment, or the arts.
The Maine Community Foundation is like a charitable savings account for Maine. We make grants based on your philanthropic wishes and our knowledge of Maine communities.
If you have already named the foundation in your will, please let us know. We’d be honored to have you become a Friend of Maine.
For a private consultation, please call (207) 761-2440 or email info@mainecf.org. To learn more about planned giving at the foundation, visit mainecf.org.
