awards for arts achievement
National Arts Awards | |
| Recipient: | Eli Broad
Frederick R. Weisman Award for Philanthropy in the Arts |
| Year: | 2005 |
Eli Broad is a renowned business leader who built two Fortune 500 companies from the ground up over a five-decade career. He is the founder-chairman of both SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home. Today, he is focused on venture philanthropy. The Broad family’s commitment to philanthropy and community includes leadership roles in art, education, science, and civic development.
Since 1984, The Broad Art Foundation has operated an active “lending library” to more than 400 museums and university galleries worldwide. Mr. Broad serves on the boards of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where the Broads announced a major gift to build The Broad Contemporary Art Museum, scheduled to open in 2007.
In 1999, the Broads founded The Broad Education Foundation, whose mission is to dramatically improve urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition. In its first five years, the Foundation has committed over $500 million to support new ideas and innovative leadership in the nation’s largest urban school systems.
Committed to the belief that all great cities need a vibrant center, Mr. Broad is chairman of Los Angeles’ Grand Avenue Committee. In 1996, he and then-Mayor Richard Riordan co-chaired fundraising efforts for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which opened to worldwide acclaim in 2003.
Mr. Broad joined the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution by appointment of the U.S. Congress and the President in 2004.
Strong believers in higher education, the Broad Foundations made a major contribution to the School of the Arts and Architecture at UCLA toward the construction of The Edythe L. and Eli Broad Center. Mr. Broad is a trustee of CalTech, where the Broads gave the cornerstone gift to create the Broad Center for the Biological Sciences. In 1991, the Broads endowed The Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University, from which Mr. Broad graduated cum laude in 1954. Mr. Broad served as chairman of the board of trustees of Pitzer College and vice chairman of the board of trustees of the California State University system.
