[From www.sfcv.org, 2/25/03]

Who Says There Is No Money for the Arts During the Recession, Nay,
*W*epression?

$4 Million Gift to Girls Chorus
Janos Gereben - SFCV
At age 25, the future of the San Francisco Girls Chorus may well be
assured, even in these troubled times that try the mettle of all arts
organizations, thanks to a windfall commitment of $4 million.

SFCV has learned that Skyy Spirits founder Maurice Kanbar is making the
contribution to the chorus as a "charitable remainder in a non-revocable
trust arrangement." The unprecedented size of the donation to a small
organization is providing a great lift to the Girls Chorus' annual
fund-raising gala on March 21 and, even more, to its search for a new
home.

Kanbar is a major contributor to East Coast and local arts organizations,
a long-time benefactor of the SF International Film Festival. He told
SFCV that he was prompted to gift "these wonderful girls" in part because
the chorus is losing the lease on its Sutter Street home in July. The
purpose of Kanbar's donation is to "get the ball rolling" on putting
together a $6-$7 million fund for the acquisition of a building. Optimally,
he said, the building should also include a concert hall.

Rachel Malan, SFGC's new executive director, said the organization is
concentrating intensely on the task of finding a new home. The Kanbar
donation will be invested and when the terms of the trust are fulfilled,
the entire principal amount will transfer to SFGC. The Chorus has already
commissioned a feasibility study to explore how a capital campaign may
be built on the Kanbar donation to secure a permanent home for the
organization (which had moved six times already during the past 24 years).
The new building would be named after Kanbar.

Kanbar is an engineer and inventor, of D-Fuzz-It, Tangoes Puzzle, the
first multiplex movie theater (in 1971), and Skyy Vodka. The latter was
"guerrilla-marketed by its own inventor, who whizzed around San Francisco
on his scooter, converting bartenders, buyers and consumers one-on-one,"
according to the dust jacket of Kanbar's autobiographical "Secrets from
an Inventor's Notebook."

A few months ago, Kanbar contributed an additional $6 million to the
$28.5-million expansion of New York University's Maurice Kanbar Institute
of Film and Television, located on Broadway. The Institute is part of
the Tisch School of the Arts, itself a beneficiary of Kanbar's donations.
Asked what motivates him in his many activities to support the arts,
Kanbar said he wants to "pay back some of what I received from a wonderful
society."

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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