Seven billion dollars. That’s how much Walker has given out as president of the Ford Foundation during the past 11 years. More important, though, is who he has given that money to. Walker has spent much of his time at the foundation reorienting the philanthropic trust, from which, it was announced in July, he steps down next year, to address inequality and social justice. Funding arts programmes has long been a focus within that framework: in 2024 alone this has ranged from the $1.1m the foundation gave to bankroll Jeffrey Gibson’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale (Gibson was the first Indigenous artist to represent the US at the event), to the $500k each given to the Los Angeles Museum of Art, New York’s The Kitchen and the Whitney (specifically for the exhibition of choreographer and Civil Rights activist Alvin Ailey), and the $2k given to National Portrait Gallery staffers to attend a migrant justice conference. Eyeing up his future spare time, in October Walker, already a trustee to the Smithsonian, became president of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.