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Posted Apr 6, 2024, 3:12 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2002
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Left to right: Sel Kardan, Carol Colburn Grigor, Andrew Millstein, Jerry Kohl, Terri Kohl, Maeesha Merchant, Toby Mayman, Merle Mullin, and
Terry Greene at Colburn Center's groundbreaking ceremony. Photo by Loreen Sarkis.
Today the Colburn School broke ground on the Colburn Center, a $335 million 100,000-square-foot expansion designed by Frank Gehry. The new building will be located in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to Colburn’s Grand Avenue campus, and will dramatically increase the school’s training and performance facilities.
The completed project will join Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand complex to create the largest concentration in the world of buildings designed by that architect. The adjacent area also includes LA cultural institutions such as The Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Broad.
"The Colburn Center will be a game-changer, stepping up everything we do for the school’s own community, for our peer organizations that make the LA artistic ecosystem so vibrant, and for the public that we look forward to welcoming," said Sel Kardan, President and CEO of the Colburn School. "At Colburn, making performances accessible to LA audiences is as much a part of our core mission as making first-rate music and dance education available to everyone. These are the same values we see in the wonderful design by Frank Gehry: artistic excellence at the highest level, combined with a deep love for the dynamism and diversity that animate life in a great city."
Kardan read the following statement on behalf of Gehry: "This is a long time coming, and I am so grateful for everyone who helped make it possible. For me, this building is very special. It adds significant opportunity for growth in music, music education, and collaboration inside of Colburn and with the other arts institutions in LA. I really believe it will unlock untold riches in the cultural community here in LA and I am honored to be a part of it."
Besides Kardan and Solis, the groundbreaking event also brought together Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Hamilton, Chairman of the Colburn School’s Board of Trustees Andrew Millstein, and lead donors Carol Colburn Grigor, Life Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees who spearheaded the fundraising campaign, and Jerry and Terri Kohl, whose leadership gift will fund a 1,000-seat concert hall in their name.
At the groundbreaking, Kardan announced that the Colburn School’s "Building Our Future" campaign reached $315 Million of its $400 Million Goal.
In attendance were some of the many generous philanthropists who have supported that campaign, including Tom Beckmen, Henry Choi, David Colburn, Jennifer Diener, Richard Fiock, Terry Greene, Stephanie and Greg Guyette, Ann Moore, Merle Mullin, Diane Naegele, and Alyce Williamson, all of whom have made leadership commitments to the project. Also in attendance were LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger; Scott Altman, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale; Ben Cadwallader, Executive Director of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; James Conlon, Music Director of LA Opera and Founder and Director of the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School; Snehal Desai, Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group; Christopher Koelsch, President and CEO of LA Opera; Jaime Martín, Music Director of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Rachel S. Moore, President and CEO of The Music Center; Meghan Pressman, Managing Director/CEO of Center Theatre Group; Thor Steingraber, Executive and Artistic Director of The Soraya.
Founded in 1950 as a small preparatory school for the University of Southern California, what is now the Colburn School functioned as a community school for its first 30 years. In 1980, Richard D. Colburn stepped in as its benefactor, helping the school to become an independent, not-for-profit institution.
The school was named after Colburn in the late '80s, after which serious plans started taking shape. In 1998, the school moved to its current location on Grand Avenue, and in 2003 the first official class of 15 students were welcomed to the Colburn Conservatory of Music. The expansion has continued to Colburn's infrastructure, programs and student body, with the addition of a 12-story residence, Colburn dance programs, the Colburn Music Academy, the Negaunee Conducting Program and more.
Performance by the Colburn Conservatory’s Pep Band at Friday's groundbreaking ceremony.
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