Annenberg Foundation Donates $1 Million to UCSB to Support Center for Film, Television and New Media

UC Santa Barbara has been awarded a $1 million grant by the Annenberg Foundation to support the Center for Film, Television and New Media.

The grant will provide essential funding for the center's highest priorities.

Wallis Annenberg, vice president of the Annenberg Foundation and an honorary member of the center's distinguished advisory board, said she hoped the foundation's commitment would inspire others to step forward to support UCSB's distinctive approach to film and media education.

The Center for Film, Television and New Media will be moving into a new academic building complex that is scheduled to break ground next year.

In recognition of the recent contribution, UCSB will name a conference room in the new facility for Wallis Annenberg.

The Annenberg grant brings to $6.75 million the total raised thus far toward a goal of $10 million for the privately funded center.

"This center is visionary and unique," said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang.

"It will transform the teaching and research of the interdisciplinary field of film, television, and new media.

We are extremely grateful to the Annenberg Foundation and Wallis Annenberg for their leadership support, and for the vision they have shared with us.

I thank and congratulate co-directors Constance Penley and Ron Rice, our advisory board members, and all of our colleagues and friends who are committed to the center's success."

UCSB recently announced the public phase of a multi-year comprehensive fund-raising campaign to generate $350 million in new private support by 2007.

With the recent contribution from the Annenberg Foundation, the campus is more than halfway to its goal.

The Center for Film, Television and New Media will bring together students and scholars from the campus's renowned departments of film studies and communication, as well as 15 other departments that study film, video, television, and emerging media in the context of a strong liberal arts and sciences curriculum.

Constance Penley, professor of film studies and co-director of the center, said, "We greatly appreciate the Annenberg Foundation's support of our center, which already has launched important programs, such as the Media Ownership Project and the Environmental Media Initiative."

The center's other co-director is Ron Rice, who is the Arthur N. Rupe Professor of the Social Effects of Mass Communication.

Aaron Ettenberg, acting provost of the College of Letters and Science at UCSB, said, "The association of the Annenberg Foundation with some of the best programs in the humanities and social sciences will underline the significance of this innovative center.

We are thrilled to prominently honor Wallis Annenberg in our new 200,000 square foot facility."

The center will house a public theater, a state-of-the-art production suite, instructional and research laboratories, and climate-controlled film and television archival space.

"The Annenberg name is identified with first-rate research and education in the field to which the center is dedicated," said David Marshall, dean of the humanities and fine arts at UCSB.

"We're honored to have the support and the endorsement of the foundation."

Marshall and Melvin Oliver, dean of social sciences, oversee the center.

Founded in 1989 by the late publisher, diplomat and philanthropist Walter H. Annenberg, the Annenberg Foundation exists to advance the public well-being through improved communication.

As the principal means of achieving its goal, the foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge.

Related Links

Center for Film, Television and New Media

Annenberg Foundation