Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative (PEI) announced today a record $1.1million in grants, half of which are going to first-time recipients–including $250,000 to the Mutter Museum.

Collective gallery Vox Populi will receive its second grant–$39,670 to bring in guest curator Malik Gaines for an exhibit about how African-American identity is influenced by societal expectations of behavior (a concept based on W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of “Double-Consciousness”).

The Mutter grant is for an animated film commission by cult darlings the Quay Brothers, using parts of the museum’s macabre medical collection. The other organization receiving the whopping $250,000 sum is perennial winner the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for an exhibit of experimental work by Arte Povera founder Michaelangelo Pistoletto.

Other exhibitions grants are going to:

Arcadia University, $200,000 for a Tacita Dean newly commissioned film and other work;

International House, $29,000 for an experimental-film series by under-represented artists;

Philadelphia Art Alliance, $169,273 (exactly)  for a new installation by The Miss Rockaway Armada collective, including a flotilla of boats traveling on the Schuylkill and more neighborhood surprises;

Slought Foundation, $28,855 for an interactive approach to a redux of a 1989 lecture/performance by John Cage.

Two of the grants are going to furniture and craft related projects. One is about $25,000 for an exhibit of work by furniture arts-and-crafts master Wharton Esherick, organized by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. The other is a planning grant for nearly $25,000 to the James A. Michener Museum for an exhibit of work by American furniture designer–craftsman and Bucks County resident Paul Evans (1931–1987).

One other  planning grant, also about $25,000, is to the ICA for an exhibit of work by sculptor Jason Rhoades.

PEI, founded in 1997, has funded more than 103 projects for a grand total of more than $11 million over the years, to help support outstanding exhibits in the region.