Document text
Allen leads OSF benefactors list Longtime contributor gives $6 million; Gates, Joy also make big donations By Wendy Siporen ASHLAND � Three big names in the computer world are the top contributors to a $20 million capital campaign of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to construct a new theater and boost the festival�s endowment. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen tops the list with a $6 million gift from the Allen Foundation for the Arts. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates gave an unspecified "seven-figure" gift through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as did Bill and Sara Joy. Bill Joy is the vice president and co-founder of Sun Microsystems. The three gifts, along with 18 other contributions, bring the theater�s fund-raising total to $14.2 million or 71 percent of its goal. Friday marked the beginning of the public phase of the campaign, which the festival hopes to have completed by next year. "The gifts are extraordinary gifts for their size," said festival development director Peter Thomas. "But they are based upon relationships that go back decades with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival." The Allen family has been attending festival plays for 30 years and the Gates family for 20 years, said Thomas. Joy is a current board member and Gates� father, William H. Gates, has previously served. "Our goal in offering the lead gift was to serve as a catalyst encouraging additional support," said Jo Allen Patton, Paul Allen�s sister and executive director of the Allen Foundation for the Arts. "The festival is a tremendous asset to our region and we are proud to support its efforts." The Seattle-based Allen Foundation was the top donor for the remodeling of OSF�s Elizabethan Theater, which now bears the Allen name. Half of the campaign goal will go toward a new theater to replace the Black Swan and an adjacent three-tier parking structure. The other half will be added to the festival�s current $16 million endowment fund. The festival anticipates the additional $10 million will return $1 million annually to support the festival. Artistic Director Libby Appel said a large endowment would ensure artistic freedom for the theater. "It means we�re not reliant on the box office � that means we don�t have to be fashionable or commercial,�� said Appel. Two local families, Sid and Karen DeBoer and Celia and Jed Meese, as well as the Carpenter Foundation, made contributions between $100,000 and $500,000. Sid DeBoer and Jed Meese serve on the OSF board. Executive Director Paul Nicholson said that groundbreaking for the new theater is scheduled for November, contingent on Planning Commission approval. Revised theater plans will go before the historic commission July 5 and will be considered by the Planning Commission July 11. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA