The Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago will be renamed to honor Ken Griffin, as originally promised nearly five years after the Citadel founder announced he would donate a historic $125 million to the museum.
The cultural institution will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science & Industry on Sunday, the museum said in a release. The $125 million gift made way for multiple new exhibits, including the "Notes to Neurons" multimedia experience that will be featured in the new Griffin Studio digital space.
"The gift is being used to support our vision and our future focus [of] reimagining MSI. It will also bolster our endowment, and that will support our long-term financial health with the museum to ensure future sustainability," Chevy Humphrey, president and CEO of the Museum of Science & Industry, said in an interview with Crain's Chicago Business, a sibling publication of Crain Currency. "We're just excited that these new experiences are going to be fresh avenues for us to share science and industry to Chicago and the world, and we could not have done it without Ken Griffin's incredible support."
To celebrate the new name and look, the museum will offer free admission Sunday. Humphrey did not disclose the full price, only stating that part of the $125 million went toward the rebranding.
David Mosena, former CEO of the museum, offered the name change after he sought out Griffin for the contribution. Griffin announced the donation in October 2019, and the museum officially received the full gift in February 2021. Mosena previously told Crain's that 2024 was the targeted year for the rebrand to make time for changes to legal documents and logos, among other things.
Businessman Julius Rosenwald, the museum's lead benefactor during its 1933 founding, refused to name the museum after himself due to other major founding funders, making the naming rights up for grabs.
A committee of seven or eight members focused on ensuring updates were made on everything from building names to uniforms, Humphrey said. The museum will give Griffin a private tour of the new experiences sometime during this weekend, she said.
The gift from Griffin is part of the billions of funds he has given to universities, museums and political campaigns over the years. Though Griffin moved his family and business to Miami in the summer of 2022, citing rising crime in the city, a review of his donations in 2021 by Crain's showed that the majority of his giving did not prioritize anti-violence and policing in the city.
Since departing, Griffin’s philanthropic priorities and donations appear to have shifted to Florida, where his donations now total over $300 million, with the majority of them landing since his move in 2022.