The University of San Francisco Receives $15 Million from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts
SAN FRANCISCO (December 21, 2022) — The University of San Francisco (USF) has received a gift of $15 million from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts from the auction of more than 1,500 of their collected artworks. Gordon Getty ‘56 and his late wife, Ann Getty, shared a passion for the arts, and this gift will build a foundation to help create the Ann Getty Institute of Art and Design at USF.
“I am incredibly grateful for this generous gift to invigorate Arts education at USF through faculty support, student scholarships and facilities expansions,” said Eileen Chia-Ching Fung, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The Ann Getty Institute will allow students to re-envision the world through their art and studies within a strong, Jesuit liberal arts and social justice context. Students will interact with renowned artists, benefit from exciting internship and exhibition opportunities, and engage with arts networks throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.”
The Institute will bring together esteemed artists, designers, architects, and performers to inhabit a campus and a community creating good through the power of the visual and performing arts. The institute will expand arts education and facilities to enable the university to expand its bachelors and masters programs in the visual and performing arts.
About the University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco is a private, Jesuit Catholic university that reflects the diversity, optimism, and opportunities of the city that surrounds it. USF offers more than 230 undergraduate, graduate, professional, and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, law, education, and nursing and health professions. At USF, each course is an intimate learning community in which top professors encourage students to turn learning into positive action, so the students graduate equipped to do well in the world — and inspired to change it for the better. For more information, visit usfca.edu.
About the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts
The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts was established in 2022 to fulfill Mr. and Mrs. Getty’s joint philanthropic commitment to creativity and learning and their belief that art, in all its forms, is vital to ensuring a community’s prosperity. The Foundation, funded with the Getty Art Collection, will use proceeds from the Christie’s sale to support a group of leading California-based arts and science organizations with whom the Gettys have had a longstanding relationship, including the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, University of San Francisco, Berkeley Geochronology Center, and the Leakey Foundation. The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts plans to distribute all of its charitable resources within the next three to five years, seeking to leave a legacy to carry future generations forward.
