David Geffen has contributed $25 million to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Academy announced on Monday. Geffen’s gift is the single largest contribution in the Academy’s $300 million capital campaign to raise money for the museum, and will result in the premiere-sized theater at the museum being named the David Geffen Theater.
The museum is located at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the Wilshire District of Los Angeles. It is slated to open in early 2017, with more than half the $300 million fundraising goal already raised in a campaign co-chaired by Annette Bening and Tom Hanks.
"David's support of this project is transformative," said Academy Museum Campaign Chair Bob Iger in an AMPAS statement announcing the donation. "It takes a large and diverse group of supporters to build a project on the scale of the Academy Museum. David joins an esteemed group of individuals, companies, and foundations who are leading the charge."
Added Geffen, "I'm pleased to support the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the creation of an iconic architectural space and cultural institution that will combine the best of the old and the new and provide a permanent public home for the Academy's rich tradition of honoring the shining stars of the cinematic arts."
The Academy statement also revealed that architects’ Renzo Piano’s and Zoltan Pali’s design restores the original facades of the 1939 Streamline Modern building, which had formerly been a May Company department store. It will include a spherical wing at the northern end of the original building, which, the Academy said, will replace a 1946 extension.
