Jennifer Rubio and Stewart Butterfield, both listed on ARTnews's Top 200 Collectors, have pledged $23 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rubio, founder of Away, and Butterfield, co-founder of Flickr and Slack, made the donation just two months after Rubio became a Met trustee. The gift will fund the museum's internship program, ensuring all undergraduate and graduate internships are fully paid positions, building on a previous $5 million gift from Adrienne Arsht.
This pledge matters because it addresses a critical barrier to entry in the museum field—unpaid internships—by making them fully paid in perpetuity. The donation reflects a growing trend among major collectors to fund equity and access in cultural institutions, and it ensures a continuous pipeline of diverse talent into the art world. Rubio and Butterfield's support also underscores the role of top collectors in shaping institutional priorities beyond acquisitions.