Home > News > Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Awards UCLA Performing Arts $2 Million for Programming and to Establish an Endowment Through Matching Grants

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Awards UCLA Performing Arts $2 Million for Programming and to Establish an Endowment Through Matching Grants

Nicole Cavazos (ncavazos@ucla.edu) (310) 206-5305
For Immediate Use Thursday, November 15, 2001.


Susan Martin, susanm@arts.ucla.edu
(310) 206-8744
Nicole Cavazos, ncavazos@ucla.edu
(310) 206-5305

The Doris Duke Charitable foundation has awarded UCLA Performing Arts a $2 million grant for programming and to launch a major endowment campaign. The grant provides $500,000 for current programming, residency and commissioning endeavors over the next five years, and a $1.5 million challenge grant to establish the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment, as well as related named endowments from matching funds.

"We are pleased to welcome UCLA Performing Arts to an ever-growing circle of the country's leading performing arts presenting institutions," said Olga Garay, director of Art Programs, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. "UCLA Performing Arts has had extraordinary leadership in the past and is looking ahead to an even brighter future under the guidance of David Sefton. We look forward to working with UCLA Performing Arts and the artists they support."

The launch of this $1.5 million endowment campaign has been enthusiastically affirmed by Royce Center Circle board members Sally and Bill Rutter, Shirley and Ralph Shapiro, and Merle and Peter Mullin, who have taken the lead in pledging generous matching gifts totaling more than $300,000 - establishing individual Performing Arts endowments in their names. These leadership gifts begin the campaign, which, with the match from the Duke Foundation, will establish $3 million in new endowment funds for UCLA Performing Arts.

"This generous grant guarantees the future of performing arts at UCLA," said David Sefton, UCLA Performing Arts' director, "and the contributions of the Royce Center Circle board members toward matching the grant demonstrate their visionary leadership and continuing commitment to excellence and adventure in the arts."

UCLA Performing Arts grant monies will be used to support residency activities; commission new projects; expand programming of world music, jazz and dance; increase collaborations with arts presenters in and outside of Southern California; and build on education and outreach programs for students in Los Angeles and community organizations.

The Leadership Presenting Institution grant, one of five key areas supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's Arts Program, is designed to strengthen performing arts organizations and support individual artists and ensembles. The arts program also supports national service organizations, talented students in the arts, and jazz and theater initiatives.

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Doris Duke, a lifelong philanthropist, distributed some $400 million, often anonymously, to a variety of charitable causes. When she died in 1993, she left her fortune, including her properties, to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which was established in 1996, is to improve the quality of people's lives by nurturing the arts, protecting and restoring the environment, seeking cures for diseases, and helping to protect children from abuse and neglect. With approximately $1.5 billion in assets, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is among the largest philanthropies in the United States. As of May 2001, the foundation has awarded nearly $261.7 million in grants. Additional information can be found on the foundation's Web site at http://www.ddcf.org/.

An internationally acclaimed producer and presenter of music, dance and theater, UCLA Performing Arts' dynamic program UCLA Live brings hundreds of outstanding and provocative artists to Los Angeles each year. Committed to supporting the development of new work, UCLA Performing Arts has commissioned pieces by major artists including Pina Bausch, the Kronos Quartet, Bill T. Jones, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson. Lectures, residencies and extensive outreach programs expand the impact of its unparalleled performances, which include a lively mix of distinguished masters and innovators from around the world.

Contact: Nicole Cavazos
Phone: (310) 206-5305
Email: ncavazos@ucla.edu