As the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) prepares to celebrate its centennial in 2015, it has received an $8-million gift from the Duncan and Nivin MacMillan Foundation that will endow its position of director and president. The donation is the largest the institution has ever received for an endowed staff position.

Kaywin Feldman, the museum’s director and president since 2008, will be the first in the position, and will henceforth hold the post officially known as the Duncan and Nivin MacMillan director and president.

In a statement, Dianne Lilly, chair of the MIA’s board, expressed her believe that the Foundations’s gift “ensures the vitality of the director’s position in perpetuity. Nivin’s passion and commitment to the museum—and to art—has been longstanding. We are grateful to her and applaud the Foundation’s leadership in supporting and celebrating the museum during its 100th birthday year.”

The Duncan and Nivin MacMillan Foundation has previously helped fund major MIA exhibitions such as “The Louvre and the Masterpiece” and “Rembrandt in America.” Through its support, the museum has acquired a number of works including pieces by Siah Armajani and J.M.W. Turner, and completed last year’s redesign of the museum’s African galleries. MacMillan has been involved at the MIA since the late 1970s, when she moved to Minneapolis and joined the institution’s Docent Training program. She worked in the program for almost ten years, and has been a member of the museum’s board of trustees since 1997, serving on various other MIA committees, including chairing those for development, accessions, and steering.

MacMillan voiced her continued commitment to the MIA in a press release, calling it “a privilege to support the museum in this way, especially at a moment which demonstrates the impact of remarkable leadership.”