The Art Center College of Design, increasingly gaining stature as a world leader in design education, officially unveiled its $25-million campaign for endowment and operations the other evening at a black-tie dinner on its artistic hillside campus overlooking the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
It was a smiling affair: Already $10 million has come from leadership grants, according to trustees chairman Kyhl Smeby, including grants of $1 million to establish the General Motors Computer Graphics Laboratory, $1 million from Toyota Motor Corp. to endow a lecture series and scholarships, and $1 million from the Fairchild Foundation for endowment.
Art Center President David R. Brown and Warren B. Williamson, a partner at Crowell, Weedon & Co., are co-chairing the campaign, planning $20 million for endowment (to fund scholarships and educational programs). It's the center's first public fund-raising campaign, and it called for the elegance of the candlelight evening Brown's wife, Judy, hosted with Rococco's assist.
Keynote speaker was Times reporter John Dreyfuss, who attended with his wife, Katherine.
New trustee Bradford Hall and his wife, Kelsey, were in the spotlight along with Alyce Williamson, who has successfully launched the Art Center 100 support group (which is being invited to the June lectures by Robert L. Green on Chanel, Cecil Beaton, Elsie de Wolfe and Adrian). Contemporary art collector Robert Rowan, and a big crowd known for tastefulness, like Peggy Phelps, Harry Montgomery, Barbara Royce, Chris Madison, George Hale, attended.
