UCLA TO RECEIVE LARGEST GIFT
IN THE HISTORY OF DANCE IN AMERICA

Historic Campus Building to be Renamed Glorya Kaufman Hall in Recognition of Major Donation

Model of Glorya Kaufman Hall at UCLA. Northeast corner view.

Philanthropist Glorya Kaufman has donated $18 million toward the renovation of UCLA's historic Dance Building, home of the university's Department of World Arts and Cultures (WAC), Chancellor Albert Carnesale announced today. The gift is the largest single donation to the dance art form in America and is the largest to UCLA outside of the health sciences.

Constructed in 1932, the building serves as the academic center for UCLA's interdisciplinary WAC curriculum, which brings together scholars and artists from diverse disciplines such as choreography and anthropology. The department is part of the School of the Arts and Architecture.

"This generous gift will transform the arts at UCLA, particularly the Department of World Arts and Cultures," Carnesale said. "It is deeply gratifying to know that Glorya Kaufman shares UCLA's commitment to the arts as a defining and enlightening force for all of us that is essential to the scholarly and cultural life of the University."

Renovation of UCLA's Dance Building, which was designed in the Italian Romanesque style, is scheduled to begin in 2001. The building will be renamed Glorya Kaufman Hall.

The renovation and restoration plans are being executed by the firm of Moore Ruble Yudell of Santa Monica, California under the direction of principal architect Buzz Yudell, whose own studies in dance as well as architecture at Yale make him well suited to the project. Yudell and his associates have won many awards for design excellence and are known internationally for a wide range of videos & projects.

Moore Ruble Yudell's plans will transform the Dance Building, originally designed as a gymnasium, into a unique educational facility that will include a major performance venue with state-of-the art acoustics and lighting, rehearsal and performance studios, multi-media labs, offices and tech support facilities, classrooms and an outdoor pavilion theater. The renovation will create an environment where students can explore the links between performance, community service and the world's diverse artistic traditions. The broad scope of the UCLA program was a key consideration for Kaufman.

"My hope is that students learn to communicate with each other and develop friendships and understanding through their studies in the World Arts and Cultures programs," Kaufman said. "Dance and music are an international language. With it, we can touch everyone."

Kaufman's interest in the arts and her concept of generosity were shaped during her childhood by her family, their love of dance, and her memory of the three small tin boxes in which her mother put spare change for the needy. UCLA has benefited from Kaufman's philanthropy for more than 20 years and her gifts have ranged from dance scholarships to underwriting tango performances at Royce Hall. Kaufman's commitment to giving extends, as well, to other areas, including mental health, pediatric AIDS and laser research. Her altruism also led to the rebuilding of the Brentwood Branch Public Library, which, when completed in 1994, was dedicated to her late husband, Donald Bruce Kaufman.

The Department of World Arts and Cultures, the focal point of Kaufman's gift, was created in 1995 by the merger of the World Arts and Cultures program and UCLA's Dance Department, the first university-based dance department in the country. The new WAC department is home to a diverse faculty of artists and scholars, drawn from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, folklore, dance, theater and performance studies. The department's lively interdisciplinary curriculum is unified around a set of shared concerns: the significance of cultural and aesthetic diversity, both locally and worldwide, the meaning of tradition in contemporary societies, and the changing roles and responsibilities of artists.

"The department's broad perspective is increasingly important in today's world of global communication," said Daniel Neuman, dean of the School of the Arts and Architecture. "Through its work, we are developing a program that we believe will be a model for arts curricula across the United States. We are exceedingly grateful for Glorya Kaufman's vision and her extremely generous support of this department and its goals. "

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture is a professional school for artists, architects, performers, designers and scholars. Graduate and undergraduate applications for enrollment are at an all-time high as is the attendance at UCLA's ambitious gallery exhibitions, performances and public lectures.

"The significance of art is not limited to the achievements of solitary geniuses," said Christopher Waterman, chair of WAC. "World Arts and Cultures' approach to understanding the relationship between culture and the arts begins with a humble, and at the same time quite powerful, concept of creativity. This stress on creativity as an everyday thing, part of our shared heritage as human beings, encourages our faculty and students to focus on the role of the arts in community building and cultural renewal, both in Los Angeles and worldwide."

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