Target Corporation
(Received Award as Dayton Hudson Corporation)
Minneapolis, Minnesota
 
Bestowed 1992

Target Corporation [formerly Dayton Hudson Corporation] has been supporting the arts since the 1940s. Each year, the Target Foundation and the corporation's operating divisions – Target and Mervyn's, and the Department Store Division which includes Dayton's, Hudson's and Marshall Fields – commit approximately 40% of the corporation's annual philanthropic budget to support more than 1,000 cultural programs across the country. This amounted to $10.6 million in 1991.

Target has benefited the arts, business and the community by:

• Developing a number of innovative initiatives with cultural organizations in the Twin Cities, its corporate headquarters area. In 1979, the corporation established its Comprehensive Arts Support Program (CASP) to support major arts institutions with annual general operating support to encourage their continued artistic growth. The Dayton Hudson/General Mills/Jerome Travel and Study Grant Program was initiated by Target in 1986 to provide artists and arts administrators with grants of up to $5,000 for professional development through travel and study. In 1991, the Dayton Hudson Artists Loan Fund was established to make loans to individual artists for artistic and business development. Arts Over AIDS was initiated by Target in 1988 in collaboration with Twin Cities arts organizations, individual artists and persons with AIDS to establish worksite policies and to provide information about AIDS education to arts organizations.
• Working to broaden understanding among various cultures. For example, Target funded “Heritage,” a public television series about the contributions of Hispanic culture to the United States. The series was broadcast in 60 cities throughout the country, and used as a teaching tool in high school and college classrooms, as well as in community centers nationwide. Additionally, Mervyn's developed Expressions ‘90 to build audiences for the arts and preserve cultural heritages within Asian, African-American and Hispanic communities. Target was also a founding sponsor of the Arts Incubator Program, a collaboration between Wayne State University's Center for Urban Studies and the Arts League of Michigan, that provides African-American arts organizations with management training and expertise.
• Bringing the arts into the lives of its customers and employees, and encouraging both groups to support the arts, as well. The corporation's retail operations sponsor fashion benefits that have raised more than $400,000 annually for arts organizations such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago, Illinois; The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden, both in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Target has also worked with prominent artists, including David Hockney, Eiko Ishioka, Annie Liebowitz, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella, to design shopping bags for its department stores.
• Encouraging company executives to serve as members of the boards of directors, and employees to provide volunteer services to cultural organizations.