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Art & Design|The Tangs, New Donor Royalty, Step Into the Spotlight
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/arts/design/tang-oscar-hsu-tang-agnes-philanthropists.html
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With major gifts to leading arts institutions, Oscar L. Tang and Agnes Hsu‐Tang have recently landed in the center of New York cultural philanthropy.
Jan. 27, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET
When the Metropolitan Museum of Art needed a major lead gift to jump-start its long-delayed new Modern and contemporary wing, they donated $125 million, and were given naming rights.
When the New York Philharmonic needed a meaningful contribution to endow its music and artistic director chair for the 2025-26 season, they ponied up $40 million — helping woo Gustavo Dudamel from Los Angeles — the largest endowment gift in the orchestra’s history.
And when the New York Historical was trying to complete its new Wing for American Democracy, which was already under construction, the couple donated $20 million. It’s now known as the Tang Wing for American Democracy, and is scheduled to open next year in time for the country’s 250th anniversary.
Oscar L. Tang, 86, and his wife, Agnes Hsu‐Tang, 53, have kept a low profile in the past, though Tang was the first American of Asian descent to join the Met’s board more than 30 years ago. But recently they have started giving more publicly and abundantly — with crucial gifts that have catapulted them into the center of New York cultural philanthropy, which remains dominated by white donors.
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“Their giving is going to have a huge impact,” said Peter W. May, who serves with Tang as co-chair of the Philharmonic and with Hsu-Tang on the board of the New York Historical. “New York has gone through a rough patch — clearly Covid knocked us all — and there was a big question of whether the cultural side of the city was going to survive.”
