ANNENBERG FOUNDATION MAKES $10 MILLION
ENDOWMENT GIFT TO LACMA
Funds Establish Director's Endowment Fund to Support
Museum's Core Programs;
Wallis Annenberg Directorship Established
LOS ANGELES-Wallis Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation today announced a $10 million gift to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to establish the Director's Endowment Fund. Proceeds of the fund will support core museum programs including special exhibitions, art acquisitions, and art education activities for at-risk youth. In recognition of the gift, LACMA has created the Wallis Annenberg Directorship, a named position to be held by the museum's director.
The gift acknowledges LACMA's commitment to excellence in the development of innovative community-based initiatives in the arts and underscores the importance of major donors who support the museum's art and education programming.
With the establishment of the Director's Endowment Fund, LACMA gains new flexibility in pursuing its mission. Museums are often presented with unexpected opportunities to add important programs that require special funding. The Annenberg gift will provide LACMA's director with financial resources to act swiftly when such opportunities arise. Under terms of the gift, proceeds may be used for both traditional and non-traditional programming.
The $10 million endowment also provides the museum with an important resource for acquiring new works of art for its encyclopedic collection. In the past seven years, the museum has taken a more aggressive role in identifying strengths and weaknesses in its permanent collections and has acquired several important collections of art, as well as individual works of art, that allow LACMA to better present the history of human creativity. This gift helps assure continuity in these pursuits.
"Endowment funds are the lifeblood of a museum," said Walter L. Weisman, chairman of LACMA's Board of Trustees. "Proceeds from this and other endowment gifts go on year after year enabling the work connecting the museum most directly to the communities it serves. We are grateful for the Foundation's generosity and view it as an important example of how major donors can partner with LACMA to assure robust programming in perpetuity."
"The Annenberg Foundation has a history of supporting arts, education, and cultural institutions in America, with a demonstrated commitment to funding some of the nation's foremost museum programs," said Andrea Rich, President and the newly designated Wallis Annenberg Director of LACMA. "Today, LACMA and the people of Los Angeles are the beneficiaries of that profound commitment."
The Annenberg Foundation has been a LACMA donor for more than a decade. In 1991, the Foundation made a $10 million gift to the museum's endowment fund. A $100,000 gift followed in 1999 to provide arts education training to elementary school teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Last year Wallis Annenberg, Vice President of The Annenberg Foundation, endowed with a $1 million gift the Wallis Annenberg Curatorial Fellowship, a new two-year position that offers emerging curators professional training at LACMA. And earlier this year, Ms. Annenberg joined LACMA's Board of Trustees.
"The late Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg, a lifetime LACMA Trustee, and his wife Leonore, president of The Annenberg Foundation, have been generous to the museum throughout the years, significantly enhancing LACMA's ability to serve the public and advance its mission of reaching diverse audiences," said Rich. "Furthering the family's legacy of charitable giving, Wallis Annenberg brings this same enthusiasm and commitment to the museum, and I am honored to hold a position bearing her name."
"LACMA is widely known for programs of the highest artistic and scholarly quality," said Ms. Annenberg. "The museum is also one of Los Angeles' leading cultural centers, and I am delighted to offer support for programs that enable LACMA to expand its offerings to the many communities it serves. It is my hope that this gift will challenge others to support LACMA's efforts to ensure and expand the cultural vitality of the region."
LACMA's existing education and community-based initiatives serve 250,000 people annually with programs ranging from gallery tours and art classes to lectures and special events for children and families. The museum offers free admission to LACMA Lab programs in the Boone Children's Gallery, and welcomes at no charge more than 60,000 visitors annually for monthly free days and school tours.
About LACMA
LACMA's permanent collection includes approximately 100,000 works spanning the history of art from ancient times to the present, making it the premier encyclopedic visual arts museum in the western United States. The museum uses its collection and resources to provide a variety of educational, aesthetic, intellectual and cultural experiences for its visitors. In addition, LACMA offers an ever-changing series of outstanding special exhibitions of the work of the world's leading artists, as well as lectures, classes, family activities, film programs and musical events.
The Annenberg Foundation
Established in 1989, The Annenberg Foundation exists to advance public well-being through improved communication. As the principal means of achieving this goal, the Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge. The Foundation's primary grant-making interests are in public education reform, culture, the arts, and community and civic life.
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Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday noon-8 p.m.; Friday noon-9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; closed Wednesday. Call (323) 857-6000, or visit our Web site at
www.lacma.org.
General
LACMA Admission: $9, adults
$5, seniors (62+) and students (18+) with ID
Child (17 and under) FREE
*The second Tuesday of each month is free to all.
