By Khalida Sarwari
The financial future of the Montalvo Arts Center appears secure; it was announced last month that a pair of local philanthropists will lead a campaign to raise $50 million for the historic villa’s endowment.
The campaign, titled Montalvo’s 2013 Fund for the Future, was launched this year by executive director Angela McConnell to provide Montalvo with long-term financial security. It is expected to run through 2017.
“Montalvo does have an endowment currently, but it’s small and insufficient not only to maintain but to fulfill executive director Angela McConnell’s vision,” said Leah Ammon, a spokeswoman for the center. “She has launched an endeavor that would support us in a meaningful way. It would make our endowment capable of supporting our various programs.”
The initiative was kick-started by Sally Lucas of Los Gatos and Monte Sereno resident Charmaine Warmenhoven, two Montalvo trustees. Both women have been longtime supporters of Montalvo as well as other educational and cultural causes in the Bay Area. Lucas and Warmenhoven have both served as president and members of Montalvo’s board of trustees.
“They’ve been really important members of trustee leadership at Montalvo for years,” Ammon said.
Thus far, the Lucases and Warmenhovens have pledged a combined $15 million.
Ten million dollars is for the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency Program, Montalvo’s international residency program named for the couple in 2004. Some of the funds will support other education, visual and literary arts programs.
Warmenhoven and her husband Dan are donating $5 million, which will go toward maintaining and preserving the estate’s 175-acre grounds and gardens. Additionally, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation is giving $500,000 in grant funding to fund the operating expenses of the campaign.
About $20 million of the Fund for the Future campaign will go toward the restoration and enhancement of Montalvo’s villa, gardens and arboretum. The rest of the funds will go toward engaging Silicon Valley residents through Montalvo’s programs and performances, establishing an education center for K-12 teachers, and raising the global profile of Montalvo and its Lucas Artists Residency Program, which nurtures performing, visual, literary and culinary artists drawn from an international pool.
Their contribution brings Montalvo closer to reaching its campaign goal of $50 million. It is looking for $35 million more. Donors are asked to give what they can to help preserve the center, a South Bay institution that marked its centennial as an estate in 2012.
“Montalvo is a tremendous community resource, and we take very seriously the idea that we’re here to support and inspire the community,” Ammon said. “This endowment will be a really meaningful step in assuring that Montalvo will last another 100 years.”
For information about donating to the Fund for the Future campaign, contact Montalvo’s director of development Anne Holmes at 408.961.5806 or aholmes@montalvoarts.org.
Philanthropists attempting to secure Montalvo Art Center’s future through campaign
