The New York Academy of Art is moving to distance itself from its Jeffrey Epstein ties, saying this week that it has redistributed donations linked to the disgraced financier. That includes a previously redirected $30,000 and a new allocation of about $65,900 intended for groups that support sex-trafficking survivors. The academy also said its board will review philanthropy and donor-engagement policies and create an ethics committee, while board chair Eileen Guggenheim will step down a month earlier than planned. The changes arrive after recent federal document releases renewed scrutiny of Epstein’s connections to arts institutions.
What the academy said
According to The New York Times, the academy had already rerouted $30,000 that Epstein had donated and now plans to direct roughly $65,900 to an organization that helps trafficked girls. In a message reported by the paper, the board said it regretted the academy's long association with Mr. Epstein and admitted to "serious failures in judgment and governance." The school told the Times it would review its fundraising policies and form an ethics committee to oversee future donor engagement.
How the portrait scholarship worked
As reported by Artnet News, newly unsealed files show that around 2014 Epstein supported a portrait scholarship that paid three students $10,000 each and allowed him to commission portraits in return. The academy confirmed in 2020 that those scholarship funds were donated to Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, a nonprofit that works with survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. Email exchanges in the files also show academy staff communicating with Epstein's aides about scholarship names and the logistics of the portraits.
Past controversy and the Farmer case
Alumna Maria Farmer has said she met Epstein at the academy's 1995 thesis show and later reported abuse, and her account - along with the school's response - sparked a public dispute. A probe the academy commissioned and that was overseen by the law firm Walden Macht & Haran concluded that key aspects of Farmer's allegations about Eileen Guggenheim were untrue. The language and handling of that investigation, however, prompted resignations and an apology from the board. In 2020, The Art Newspaper documented the backlash and the academy's pledge at the time to change how it deals with complaints and donor relations.
DOJ files renewed scrutiny
The academy’s latest actions follow the Department of Justice's release earlier this year of millions of pages tied to the Epstein investigations, a trove that has brought fresh attention to institutions named in the files. In a January press release the DOJ said it had published over 3 million responsive pages and warned that the production could include unverified materials such as images or submissions from the public. That broad unsealing has pushed museums, universities and art schools to re-examine past donor ties and governance practices.
What comes next
The board says the new ethics committee will propose updated rules on donor engagement and student safety, while alumni and students indicate they plan to keep pressing for real transparency and protections. As The Art Newspaper reported, trustees and board members who left in 2020 had already called for clearer limits on donor access to students and for greater accountability. For now, the academy's decision to reallocate Epstein-linked funds and to review its governance stands as its most concrete step toward addressing a long-standing controversy.
