BMA Announces $1 Million Endowment Gift to Advance Engagement with Global Photography

Murthy/NAYAK Global Photography Endowment Fund will support exhibitions, acquisitions, and scholarship with a focus on the Global South and Baltimore

BALTIMORE, MD (April 30, 2026)—The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced a significant $1 million endowment gift from the foundation of cultural advocates Sheela Murthy and Vasant Nayak to establish the Murthy/NAYAK Global Photography Endowment Fund, strengthening the museum’s long-term commitment to photography as an essential artform. Designed to provide support for photography at the BMA in perpetuity, the endowment emphasizes opportunities to connect global perspectives and innovations—particularly from South Asia, Africa, and other regions of the Global South—with those emerging from Baltimore and its communities. The fund will support a wide range of initiatives, including exhibitions, acquisitions, and educational and community-based programs.

“This extraordinarily generous gift allows the BMA to deepen our engagement with photography from Asia, Africa, and Latin America in ways that more fully reflect diverse histories, geographies, and ways of seeing,” said Asma Naeem, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art. “As a museum director who comes from the Indian subcontinent, I am deeply aware of how encountering other cultures through art, images, and stories can expand understanding and foster tolerance. Photography has always been an affordable and democratic medium, and Sheela and Vasant share our belief that it is a powerful tool for helping us see one another more clearly and better understand our place in a shared world.”

The Murthy/NAYAK Global Photography Endowment Fund reflects a shared vision between the donors and the BMA to foreground global narratives in contemporary museum practice and to expand the scope of photographic histories represented in the museum’s collection and programs. Murthy and Nayak’s $1 million commitment will be fulfilled over five years, with a portion of the gift providing early support for photography initiatives while the endowment grows.

“Our connection to the BMA has deepened our belief in its role as a steward of culture and a space where images shape understanding across communities,” said Sheela Murthy & Vasant Nayak, Co-Founders of the MurthyNAYAK Foundation. “Through the Murthy/NAYAK Global Photography Endowment Fund, we hope to amplify global voices and ensure that photography continues to illuminate, connect, and inspire in Baltimore and across the world.”

Sheela Murthyis the founder and president of the Murthy Law Firm. She earned her Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice law in New York, Maryland, and before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Murthy Law Firm supports U.S. companies in maintaining America’s global leadership by working with businesses, universities, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations to fill critical talent gaps and strengthen their workforce. In addition to her professional achievements, Sheela Murthy is widely recognized for her philanthropy, especially through her work with the MurthyNAYAK Foundation, which she co-founded. She is a Trustee of the Baltimore Museum of Art and contributes her leadership and business acumen to numerous other nonprofit and community organizations.

Vasant Nayakis a fine art photographer who has exhibited his work internationally and self-published several books. He studied photography at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and completed his M.A. at Purdue University and has taught undergraduate and graduates at both Purdue University and at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Nayak is on the Board of Trustees of the Aperture Foundation in New York and is closely associated with the International Center of Photography in New York, where he contributes through various initiatives. He is also the founder of PhotoSouthAsia, a platform that supports photography in the region.

Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, programs, and collections that tell an expansive story of art—challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. Our outstanding collection of more than 97,000 objects spans many eras and cultures and includes the world’s largest public holding of works by Henri Matisse; one of the nation’s finest collections of prints, drawings, and photographs; and a rapidly growing number of works by contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds. The museum is also distinguished by a neoclassical building designed by American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of modern and contemporary sculpture. The BMA is located three miles north of the Inner Harbor, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University, and has a community branch at Lexington Market. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.