clipped from www.oregonlive.comArt college gets a $15 million gift
Hallie E. Ford, a 102-year-old philanthropist, is giving the Pacific Northwest College of Art $15 million, the largest single donation to an Oregon cultural group.
The gift signals an important turnaround at the once-struggling art school and marks its growing role as a hub for the city's creative economy.
The college will use most of the money to create an ambitious program that will bring world-class artists, performers and designers to live and teach in Portland. Under the program, the college's 3,000 full-time and continuing education art students will be able to study painting, design, computer graphics and the like, with the artists.
"To endow a program that brings important artists to this community will change everything," says architect Brad Cloepfil, an internationally known Portland architect and one of a small group of creative executives who have been advising PNCA on its future. "It changes not only the school but this city."
The gift reflects Ford's desire "to see a globally recognized center for visual art and design education located in Oregon," she said in a written statement.
The gift dwarfs PNCA's largest previous gift, $530,000, from late artist and PNCA faculty member Gordon Gilkey. The college's budget this year is $7.5 million.
clipped from www.oregonlive.com
Recent momentum
For PNCA, the gift punctuates an extraordinary administrative turnaround. Four years ago, the college was struggling with issues regarding its financial health, faculty and staff morale. The future of its Pearl District campus, owned by the family of the late Edith Goodman, was uncertain.
But since taking over in 2003, Manley, who came to Portland after a stint as a fundraiser at the Claremont Colleges in California, has helped stabilize the college. It's now debt-free. Staff morale has turned sharply positive, and the college has just begun its first master of fine arts program.
Above all, Manley aggressively pushed the college to pursue relationships with several of Portland's world-class creative figures and companies, such as Cloepfil of Allied Works; Sohrab Vossoughi, founder of the design firm Ziba Design; and John Jay, a partner in the ad agency Wieden+Kennedy.
Those networking principles were the foundation of the new institute, which will be called the Ford Institute for Visual Education, and the ambitious artist-in-residence program. The college hasn't developed a short list of prospective visiting artists or even a launch date for the program. But it envisions bringing five to seven world-class artists, designers and performers to live and teach students in Portland for residencies lasting from six months to three years. Ford's gift, $10 million of which is designated for the institute, would pay for the artists' extended housing as well as a generous living stipend.
clipped from www.oregonlive.comAfter contemplating the possibility of moving to another part of the city, possibly Old Town, the college now wants to stay in its Pearl District site, where it would continue to be just blocks from Ziba, Wieden+Kennedy and other creative companies.
"We don't want to be isolated or feel we are on an island," says Manley. "We want to be integrated in the River District."
No comments:
Post a Comment