PNCA Spring Gala Raises More Than $465,000
June 03, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2012
Contact: Lisa Radon, Communications Specialist
lradon@pnca.edu 971-255-5528
Becca Biggs, Director of Communications
bbiggs@pnca.edu 503-821-8892
PNCA Spring Gala Raises More Than $465,000
Pacific Northwest College of Art 2012 Gala | Transformation
PORTLAND, OR – June 3, 2012 - On Saturday, June 2, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) held its 10th annual Gala, Transformation. Donors and sponsors contributed more than $465,000 in sponsorships and gifts to support the PNCA Annual Fund, a new record that surpassed last year’s Gala total by more than $25,000. Contributions to the PNCA Annual Fund provide vital support for PNCA’s students, faculty, and free public exhibitions and lectures. “One of the most valuable aspects of our Gala is the chance it gives PNCA to celebrate with the entire community the transformative power of creativity and collaboration and Portland’s role as a national leader in art and design,” said Tom Manley, president of PNCA, which was established in 1909 as the Museum Art School. “The 2012 Gala was made possible through extraordinary supporters such as Visionary Chair, Georgia Leupold-Marshall, honorary chairs Elizabeth Leach and John and Janet Jay, and a dynamic committee of community leaders. PNCA board chair Ann Edlen and our entire board of governors were integral to its success as well,” Manley added. Other members of the 2012 Transformation Gala Committee included Margaret Bolger and Pat Simpson, Annie Duden, Ann and Mark Edlen, Stuart Emmons, Frank Foti and Brenda Smola, Randy Higgins, Suzanne Johnson, Maryellen and Mike McCulloch, Al Solheim. and Virginia Willard. Visionary Circle Sponsors for the event were Ann and Mark Edlen, Dorothy Lemelson, Georgia Leupold-Marshall, Al Solheim and AWS Real Estate. The evening began with a festive cocktail reception on NW 13th Street and a viewing of PNCA’s MFA and BFA Thesis Exhibition in PNCA’s Swigert Commons. Master of ceremonies Jamey Hampton introduced U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, who addressed more than 460 guests. Congressman Blumenauer commended PNCA leaders for their role in elevating Oregon as an emerging national center for art and design, as evidenced by the recent Wall Street Journal article calling Portland the nation’s “next art capital.”
The Gala also marked the launch of the College’s capital campaign, Creativity Works Here, to expand the campus to the North Park blocks. Highlighting the event was the announcement of a lead gift of $5 million from The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation to name the renovated 511 Building the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design. The gift is the largest from an alumna or alumnus in the school’s 103-year history and launches a $15 million philanthropic effort to renovate the iconic former post office at 511 NW Broadway. (See related campus expansion release.) Speaking about her lead gift, Arlene Schnitzer credited her experiences at the Museum Art School, now PNCA, with having a defining influence in her life. “I would not be who I am today without the Museum Art School,” said Schnitzer. Schnitzer will serve as an honorary co-chair for the PNCA campaign along with Dorothy ‘Dolly’ Lemelson, a longtime supporter who has established a major scholarship program at PNCA and served as a Visionary Circle sponsor for the 2012 Transformation Gala, along with Ann and Mark Edlen, Georgia Leupold-Marshall, and Al Solheim. Board chair Ann Edlen also announced that the Ford Family Foundation has donated Memory 99, a sculpture by Lee Kelly ’59, which will grace the North Park blocks in front of the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design upon completion of the renovation in the 2014-15 academic year. The Gala’s special appeal was launched with a $25,000 challenge grant from the Ed Cauduro Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF).
The late Ed Cauduro, who established a $1 million endowed scholarship at PNCA through OCF, was an early supporter of PNCA’s vision to anchor its campus on the North Park blocks. More than 100 donors contributed, in addition to numerous individual, corporate and foundation sponsors. Transformation was celebrated in tents on 13th street adjacent to PNCA’s main campus building at 1241 NW Johnson. Nearly 500 guests enjoyed a beautiful meal by Larry Grimes of Art of Catering, a dynamic paddle raise by Johnna Wells of Benefit Auctions 360, and installation artwork by current students and alumni as well as the 2012 Student Thesis Exhibition in the Commons.
About Pacific Northwest College of Art
PNCA prepares students for a life of creative practice and has been an influential force in art and design education in the Pacific Northwest since its founding in 1909. Today PNCA enrolls over 600 students in 15 undergraduate and graduate programs, and another 1,500 students through its continuing education programs. PNCA’s graduate programs are part of its Ford Institute for Visual Education (FIVE): an MFA in Visual Studies, a Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies, an MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research, an MFA in Collaborative Design, and an MFA in Applied Craft and Design developed with the Oregon College of Art and Craft, the first inter-institutional degree of its kind in the US. PNCA is actively involved in Portland's cultural life through exhibitions and a vibrant public program of lectures and internationally recognized visiting artists, designers, and creative thinkers. The Portland Monthly, in its January 2012 issue, called PNCA the “crown jewel of Portland’s creative class.” With the support of FIVE, the College has an operating partnership with the nationally acclaimed Museum of Contemporary Craft.
For more information, visit www.pnca.edu.