Santa Barbara Bowl Announces $2-Million Matching Grant
Could Make Renovations Possible in Near Future
The Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation Board of Directors announced that an anonymous foundation has issued a one-to-one matching challenge to its American Classic Campaign for renovation and restoration.
The challenge requires that the campaign raise $2 million by December 31, 2013, after which the anonymous foundation will release its own $2 million donation. Should the challenge be met, the $4-million raised will bring the campaign within $1.5 million of the $27-million goal necessary to complete renovations. Longtime Bowl supporters Chad and Ginnie Dreier have made the first $500,000 donation toward the challenge.
The Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation created its first long-range renovation plans in 1995. In 2004, the foundation announced its American Classic Campaign, which has since raised over $16 million in pledges and cash donations. The Dreier family was also the first to kick-start that campaign. By the time the renovations are complete, over $38 million will have been invested into the master plan since 1995.
“The community realized a dream 75 years ago when the Bowl was built as a gathering place for Old Spanish Days,” said Board President Paul Doré in a press statement. “We continue that dream today as we update the Bowl with state-of-the-art production facilities … . The Bowl is part of what makes Santa Barbara a culturally vibrant, unique city, and the generosity of donors like the anonymous foundation and the Dreier and Towbes families make it possible to preserve the historic amphitheatre for future generations.”
A formal announcement of the challenge will be made at 5 p.m. on Thursday during the Bowl’s End of Season celebration. The Bowl’s new Towbes Family Café, a gift of Ann and Michael Towbes, will be dedicated at the same gathering.
