The HFPA announced a $2 million endowment to the Los Angeles City College Foundation for the college’s Cinema and Television Department. This is the largest donation ever awarded by the Associations, which over the years, has given grants totaling more than $20 million to entertainment related charities and scholarship programs. A particular focus of the HFPA’s charter are educational institutions and the donation to LACC, a venerable but long-struggling school in Los Angeles, reaffirms our commitment to organizations that further the knowledge, appreciation and study of film in the capital of cinema.
“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is excited to donate this contribution to the Los Angeles City College Film & TV Department. We are dedicated to providing resources to students who have a passion for the film and television industry, so they can become the next great generation of writers, producers, cinematographers, and directors.” said Theo Kingma, president of the HFPA in announcing the award. In recognition of this gift, the department will be renamed the HFPA Center for Cinema and Television at Los Angeles City College. Funds from this donation will be used to upgrade all studio, post-production and theater facilities to today’s industry HD standards and include numerous annual scholarships.
Robert Schwartz, Executive Director of the Los Angeles College Foundation said “The LACC Foundation is truly honored to be the recipient of this extraordinary gift from the Hollywood Foreign Press. This donation will be transformational in its impact, not only in the upgrade of facilities at the college’s cinema and television program, but also in the effect that this will have on the lives of the more than 1,500 students who will study at the HFPA Center for Cinema and Television each semester.
LACC which was founded in 1929, currently serves a student population which is among the most diverse in the nation. Of the College’s more than 17,000 students, 45% are first-generation college students and more than 30% primarily speak a language other than English at home. Although the school counts prestigious names amongst its alumni, like Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman, the film and cinema school, like the college as a whole, has been afflicted by chronic funding shortages. The HFPA grant seeks to reverse that trend and to return the school to the ranks of the city’s preeminent film education institutions.