Glorya Kaufman’s Second Transformative Gift Will Support the Development of Multiple Housing Projects and Medical Offices, Led by the Fund

June 12, 2023— Distinguished philanthropist Glorya Kaufman has once again partnered with the Entertainment Community Fund, the national human services organization supporting the needs of those working in the entertainment industry, to make another transformative donation. The goal of this gift is to help the Fund create five new affordable housing projects for artists across Los Angeles County over the next 10 years.

Building off the success of her 2018 donation to establish The Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Theater at The Hollywood Arts Collective (HAC), Kaufman has created a new revolving investment fund for the Entertainment Community Fund to dramatically expand the supply of the region’s affordable housing for artists via its Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation.

Beyond performing arts, Glorya Kaufman has a second great passion, and that is providing vision-saving medical treatment to children whose families cannot afford this specialized care. With this most recent gift, Kaufman decided to merge both passions, partnering with the Entertainment Community Fund to establish the Glorya Kaufman Vision Fund.

This Glorya Kaufman Vision Fund not only has an initial goal of financing the pre-development of five new affordable housing projects in Los Angeles County over the next ten years, but also using commercial spaces in those buildings to host medical offices providing vision-saving eye care to hundreds of underserved children each year. 

In February 2021, the Fund broke ground on The Hollywood Arts Collective, a $125 million affordable housing project in Hollywood, California that includes two buildings. The Cicely Tyson Residential Building just opened to welcome residents this May, and The Rita Moreno Arts Building is slated to open in Spring 2024. 

The Cicely Tyson Residential Building includes 151 units of affordable housing and will be the new home for the Entertainment Community Fund Western Region Headquarters. The Rita Moreno Arts Building will feature art galleries, office spaces and, thanks to a sizable donation in 2018 from Kaufman, The Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Theater.

On May 1, 2023, Kaufman was among one of four distinguished recipients who were presented with the Medal of Honor at the Entertainment Community Fund’s annual gala. Those who have been recognized with this high honor are visionary leaders who enrich the performing arts and entertainment community.

“My entire career has been dedicated towards supporting the arts to build a stable foundation for emerging artists. The Entertainment Community Fund has my full support in all their efforts being made towards establishing reliable accommodations, services, and resources for people in the arts,” said Glorya Kaufman, philanthropist and founder of the Glorya Kaufman Foundation. “My partnership with The Fund expands on my own philanthropic efforts I have committed my life’s work to. The Glorya Kaufman Vision Fund combines my long standing passions for both performing arts and vision care.”

“It never ceases to amaze me when friends of the Fund repeatedly show their support of our programs and services helping everyone in the performing arts and entertainment community. And Glorya goes above and beyond to show her compassion and care for others through her multitude of philanthropic endeavors. With Kaufman’s help, the Fund is committed to creating a more stable, resilient ecosystem to support those in need in Los Angeles County,” shared Keith McNutt, the Fund’s Executive Director of the Western Region.

“The creative economy is a critical driver of our state’s prosperity and identity. It is essential that we lean into long-term strategies to support, value and retain our creative workers, many of whom struggle with the basic affordability of housing and workspace. This exciting project ensures that emerging creative talent will have safe, affordable places to live in the heart of Los Angeles. Thank you Glorya Kaufman and the Entertainment Community Fund for your visionary efforts to help our creative workforce.”, shared Senator Ben Allen, Vice Chair, Legislative Joint Committee on the Art.

Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath said, “artists are critical to thriving, connected, and vibrant communities. It’s wonderful to see how the Entertainment Community Fund, with the support of Glorya Kaufman, is making continuous investments in affordable housing for Los Angeles County artists. This partnership is an excellent example of how working across sectors lifts us out of our homelessness crisis as well as honors the contributions of artists to our communities and the important role that art plays in shaping our culture.”

For more information, please visit  https://www.tsahousing.com/property/hollywoodartscollective

ABOUT THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY FUND

The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a national human services organization that addresses the unique needs of people who work in performing arts and entertainment with services focused on health and wellness, career and life, and housing. Since 1882, the Fund has sought to ensure stability, encourage resiliency and be a safety net for those who shape our country’s cultural vibrancy. Learn more at entertainmentcommunity.org.

ABOUT ACTORS FUND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation was established by the Entertainment Community Fund to provide the performing arts and entertainment community with access to affordable housing. Building upon the experience and expertise of the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), the AFHDC supports and guides the development of affordable housing for the performing arts and entertainment community to improve lives, create jobs, foster economic development and revitalize communities.

ABOUT GLORYA KAUFMAN

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Glorya’s love of dance began when she first danced standing on her father’s shoes before she could walk. This love was fostered in her teens when Glorya frequented jazz clubs during Detroit’s jazz heyday. Many of Glorya’s philanthropic endeavors evolved from her twin passions for dance and supportive care for others.

Glorya met and married building contractor Donald Bruce Kaufman in the early 1950s. They became partners in life and work. When Don died tragically in 1983, Glorya recovered from the trauma and loss of her lifetime partner by pouring her energies into philanthropy. She established the Glorya Kaufman Foundation, which enables Glorya to express her values and vision through a diverse portfolio of giving.

However, the crown jewel of Glorya’s passion for dance is inlaid into USC, the University of Southern California, where she worked tirelessly to help create the university’s school for dance in 2012: the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.

Dance is merely one of Glorya’s great passions for the cultural arts in Los Angeles. She is a patron of the Los Angeles Music Center’s Glorya Kaufman Presents and a founding member of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), a patron of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Geffen Playhouse. She is also a patron of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Glorya also supports Inner City Arts and funded a dance teacher for perpetuity; the Julliard School, where she provided a dance rehearsal/entertainment room overlooking Broadway; Alvin Ailey Dance School, where she funded various opportunities to improve dancing and enrich their building in New York; and the Donald Bruce Kaufman Brentwood Branch Library. Glorya recently founded the Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar in Los Angeles and in partnership with the Wende Museum, she is creating The Glorya Kaufman Creative Community Center that will bring education and culture to people who live throughout West Los Angeles.

Glorya’s concern for the health and well-being of young and old has been lifelong. In the 1980s, she provided seed money for the first center for women struggling with domestic violence in downtown Los Angeles. When the 1994 Earthquake destroyed Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, she contributed to a new guest waiting room in the main floor after watching TV coverage of patients being removed from the hospital.

Glorya also joined forces with Dr. Leonard Apt of the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA to start preschool mobile units that examined youngsters under the age of five in nursery schools in and around Los Angeles. After Dr. Apt’s death, the eye institute was awarded $4,100,000 to have these mobile units examine preschool children in and around Los Angeles over the course of five years. More than 90,000 children were seen and those who needed glasses were given glasses. This program is continuing.

She also started and supports the Glorya Kaufman Eye Clinic in Venice, CA, that examines eyes and gives free glasses to all who seek examinations and are in need for the last 30 or more years.

Believing in the enduring power of the arts to console, heal, create community, uplift and transform lives, Glorya is excited to help the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund) to create a 71-seat theater, The Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Theater, within The Hollywood Arts Collective. The Hollywood Arts Collective is a new affordable housing development and community arts center that embodies the Entertainment Community Fund vision, shared by Glorya: a world in which individuals contributing to our cultural vibrancy are supported, valued and economically secure.

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