PNCA Capital Campaign Awarded $700,000 Top-Off Grant from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
September 03, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 3, 2014
Contact: Lisa Radon, Communications Specialist
lradon@pnca.edu
971-255-5528
Becca Biggs, Director of Communications
bbiggs@pnca.edu
971-255-5511
PNCA Capital Campaign Awarded $700,000 Top-Off Grant from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Portland, OR, September 3, 2014 —Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) has been awarded a $700,000 top-off grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust toward its CREATIVITY WORKS HERE Capital Campaign for campus expansion to Portland’s North Park Blocks. “We welcome this investment in PNCA’s vision of a vibrant center for art and design in downtown Portland that not only supports our mission of preparing students for a thriving creative practice, but also throws open its doors to the greater Portland community,” says Tom Manley, President of PNCA.
Launched in 2012, CREATIVITY WORKS HERE is a $15 million capital campaign in support of PNCA’s renovation of the former federal building at 511 NW Broadway. The campaign has met 90% of its goal, and the College plans to move into what has been named the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design for the 2015 spring semester. The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust top-off grant will help spur the remaining $1.4 million in contributions that is needed to realize this ambitious project. The Trust will fulfill its grant once these funds have been raised.
Gifts and pledges can be made by phoning Sharon Johnson, Major Gifts Officer, at (503) 821-8896. "We are pleased to be partnering with the Pacific Northwest College of Art on the renovation of the 511 Building to serve as the anchor for the new North Park Blocks campus," says Kit Gillem, Program Director at the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has previously supported PNCA with grants to support technology upgrades, web development, and in 1998, a gift in support of the College's move to its current home.
The building's innovative design by nationally recognized architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture incorporates spacious studios and classrooms, labs, and workshops. Spaces for both academic and public programming include a new mediatheque/black box theater, galleries, and new Commons, in addition to a light-filled central atrium and performance court. “This grant comes at an important time as we near our goals for this historic campaign,” Manley adds. “This is a transformative move for PNCA that will generate positive impacts well beyond the walls of the institution. PNCA deeply appreciates the support of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and our many partners in bringing our vision to fruition.”
PNCA’s new home joins the College’s Museum of Contemporary Craft and ArtHouse, PNCA’s student housing facility, on the tree-lined historic North Park Blocks.
About Pacific Northwest College of Art
As Oregon’s flagship college of art and design since 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art has helped shape Oregon’s visual arts landscape for more than a century. PNCA students study with award-winning faculty in small classes. In the last seven years, PNCA has doubled both the student body and full-time faculty, quadrupled its endowment, and added innovative undergraduate and graduate programs. PNCA is now embarking on its boldest venture yet by establishing the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design as an anchor for the College’s vision of a new campus home on Portland’s North Park Blocks. Focusing on the transformative power of creativity, the capital campaign, Creativity Works Here, was launched in June 2012 with a lead gift from The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation of $5 million. PNCA’s new home will be a bustling hub for creativity and entrepreneurship, reflecting the influential role of art and design in our 21st century economy – both in Portland and beyond.
For more information, please visit pnca.edu/cwh.
About the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust was created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, who was a co-founder of Tektronix, Inc. of Beaverton, Oregon and a resident of Vancouver, Washington. The Trust’s mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants to organizations that seek to strengthen the region’s educational, cultural, and spiritual base in creative and sustainable ways. Since its establishment in June 1975, the Trust has distributed more than $658 million to organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest.