Mark L. and Margery Pabst Charitable Foundation for the Arts
With heads for business but hearts for the arts, Mark and Margery Pabst formed the Pabst Charitable Foundation for The Arts in the early 2000’s. With successful careers in insurance and business leadership, Mark and Margery were always passionate about the arts and supporting them in each community they called home.
Once retired to Central Florida, the couple set out to build a foundation that would identify local arts organizations who were growing artists as well as broadening access to the arts for the community as a whole.
The first of many organizations to receive support from the Pabsts was Atlantic Center for The Arts. ACA’s model of supporting artists in the creative process resonated with the couple. In 2007 The Mark and Margery Pabst Visitors Center and Gallery at ACA was opened. The 5,000 sq foot Center is home to three interconnecting galleries, office and gathering spaces, and gives way to an outdoor nature trail. In addition to the Pabst Visitors Center, the Pabst Endowment for Master Writers at Atlantic Center for the Arts was created in 2007. The project’s completion came a year after Mark was lost to an aggressive form of leukemia. In her late-husband’s memory, Margie continued to grow the foundation and its impact on arts organizations.
From 2007, the Pabst Charitable Foundation grew into a leading funder for work connected to Arts & Wellness. The Pabst Foundation funded several ground-breaking symposia in the field, creating first of their kind models that identified how connection to various forms of art can positively impact those in the midst of health and wellness struggles. Models have been created and successfully implemented at organizations such as: Easterseals Florida, Winter Park Health Foundation, Central Florida Community Arts, and the University of Central Florida.
We invite you to visit the Pabst Charitable Foundation for the Arts website here and read about the work done from 2007-2018.
