The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced it has reached its initial goal of $100 million toward its $250 million capital campaign to fund the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The Academy has also unveiled its vision for the first major U.S. museum dedicated exclusively to the history and ongoing development of motion pictures.
The museum will be designed by award-winning architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali. The non-profit museum will be located in the May Company Wilshire building in Los Angeles, and is scheduled to open in 2016.
Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said the museum “will be a landmark that both our industry and our city can be immensely proud of. I appreciate the unwavering support of our board, our members, and especially our campaign chairs, all of whom have led us through this crucial stage.”
The campaign to build the museum was launched early this year by Campaign Chair Bob Iger and Co-Chairs Annette Bening and Tom Hanks. The $100 million has been raised through private donations. Iger said the early response to the fundraising has been encouraging.
The museum will feature exhibitions and galleries, special screening rooms and an interactive education center with demonstration labs. The museum will also draw from the Academy’s collections and achieves, which include more than 140,000 films, 10 million photographs, 42,000 original film posters, 10,000 production drawings, costumes, props and movie-making equipment. The museum will also feature behind-the-scenes personal accounts from artists and innovators working in the motion picture industry.
The museum, which will be located on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art campus, will revitalize the historic May Company Wilshire building. The building will include a spherical glass addition at the back of the original building. The museum will also represent the connection of art and technology.
“The design for the museum will finally enable this wonderful building to be animated and contribute to the city after sitting empty for so long,” Piano said. “Our design will preserve the May Company building’s historic public profile while simultaneously signaling that the building is taking on a new life that celebrates both the industry and art form that this city created and gave to the world.”
Major contributions for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures include:
Campaign Chairs and their families: Annette Bening and Warren Beatty, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, and Bob Iger and Willow Bay.
Academy Governors, Past Presidents and their families, including: Bill Condon and Jack Morrissey, Richard and Bonnie Cook, Rob and Shari Friedman, Sid and Nancy Ganis, Jim and Ann Gianopulos, Gale Anne Hurd, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, Hawk and Molly Koch, John and Nancy Lasseter, Walter Mirisch and Lawrence Mirisch, Bob and Kay Rehme, and Tom and Madeleine Sherak.
Corporate partners, including Dolby Laboratories, Panavision, Technicolor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Entertainment Partners/Central Casting, Girard-Perregaux Watches and The New York Times.
Film studios and entertainment conglomerates, including The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Lionsgate.
Individuals and foundations, including Cecilia DeMille Presley, Lucasfilm Foundation, Shirley Temple Black and Family, Ken and Carol Schultz, The Mary Pickford Foundation, Alan and Cindy Horn, Frank and Fay Mancuso, Bob and Eva Shaye, The Four Friends Foundation, the Film Music Foundation and Jerry and Linda Bruckheimer.
Industry guilds, including the Directors Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, and the Writers Guild of America, West.
Written by: Karen Benardello
