In 1992, during a time of rousing public debates about freedom of speech, the arts, and society’s relationship to art, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics was founded at The New School with an endowment from university life trustee Vera G. List.

The center grew out of the annual Vera List Lecture, which began in 1986 as an initiative of the Human Relations Center at the New School, shortly thereafter renamed the Vera List Center for Adult Studies. The inaugural lecture by philosopher and ethicist Sissela Bok launched a program of lectures and adult education courses, including the first program to offer Women’s Studies courses.

In 1992 the Center was renamed the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, with a renewed mission to “explore the role of the arts in developing a civic culture of tolerance and pluralism in the United States.” The first program series at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics was the Sustaining Democracy Series, a lecture program that examined the role of art in pushing forward controversial political issues and opening public debate, including government sponsorship of art, censorship, and the roles of artists and citizens.

Since 2004, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics has developed long-term Focus Themes that consider timely topics in art and politics as conceptual frameworks for public events, courses, fellowships, and publications. Themes have included Homeland (2004-2005), Considering Forgiveness (2005-2006), The Public Domain (2006-2007), Agency (2007-2008), Speculation on Change (2009-2011), Thingness (2011-2013), Alignment (2013-2015), Post Democracy (2015-2017), If Art Is Politics (2018-2020), As for Protocols (2020-2022), and Correction* (2022-2024).

For more information on the history of The New School, see The New School History, an active research project and blog. 

Vera G. List (1908-2002) was a passionate supporter of The New School’s mission of lifelong education. She joined the university’s volunteer leadership as a member of the board of trustees in 1956 and was named a life trustee in 1985. Her impact on the artistic and cultural life of the New School remains unrivaled. List was the first Chair of the New School University Art Collection and a leading force behind the New School Art Association, both starting in 1960. She was also the key player in moving the New Museum, where she was a founding trustee, into the Graduate Center of the New School for Social Research in 1977. List received the National Medal of the Arts, the highest national achievement for artists and art patrons in the US, in 1996.

The generosity of Vera List and her husband, Albert List, helped shape the intellectual, artistic, and physical landscape of the university. The New School Art Collection was founded with a major grant from the Albert A. List Foundation. They also supported a student writing award for writings inspired by the many artworks throughout the campus. The Lists also established the Albert and Vera List Academic Center, a major teaching and research facility. Vera List financed the renovation of common spaces, including an atrium and courtyard, endowed numerous scholarships and, in 1992, she funded the Vera List Center for Art and Politics out of her deep interest in the intersection of education, art, and politics.

In recognition of this exceptional legacy of the Lists, which includes the founding of the Vera List Art Project at Lincoln Center in 1962, MIT’s List Arts Center in 1985, on occasion of its 20th anniversary, the Vera List Center produced the Vera List Anniversary Print Portfolio, 2012 together with these two distinguished institutions. Joining forces with Artspace, a non-profit print publisher, and six internationally renowned artists – Dan Graham, Sarah Morris, Matt Mullican, Paul Ramírez Jonas, Fred Tomaselli, and Fred Wilson, the prints represent Vera List’s commitment to bringing art into the lives of everyone. Sales of the prints benefit all three institutions: MIT, Lincoln Center and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics.

Jane Kettering Lombard is a New York-based gallerist who champions international artists addressing urgent political issues. Since the early 1970s she has promoted emerging and mid-career artists whose work engages with contemporary political and social issues around the world.

Inspired by a desire to demonstrate that politically-oriented art could also be commercially viable in the New York market, Lombard established Lombard-Freid Projects in partnership with Lea Freid in 1995. Known as one of the “most international” New York galleries, they represented artists such as Cao Fei (China), Mounir Fatmi (Morocco), and Dan Perjovschi (Romania), as well as American artists like Mark Bradford and Michael Rakowitz. Since 2015, the gallery has continued as Jane Lombard Gallery.

Lombard became a member of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics advisory board in 2011. And in 2012, she joined four other board members and The New School in providing the financial support to launch the Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics. Her leadership and philanthropic commitment have been pivotal in sustaining and enhancing the prize, culminating in a transformative endowment gift in 2018. In recognition of her generosity, The New School renamed the prize the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice.