The goal is to enhance the quality of life through the arts with programs that are accessible to and affordable for a large and diverse public. Columbia Foundation focuses its grantmaking on the following:

The creation of new work and the performance or exhibition of art:

$25,000 to the ALMEIDA THEATRE COMPANY, London, U.K., for production of a new opera, The Cricket Recovers, by composer Richard Ayres.

$25,000 to the ASIAN ART MUSEUM, San Francisco, for the exhibition of The Kingdom of Siam: Art of Central Thailand, 1350-1800.

$50,000 to GLYNDEBOURNE PRODUCTIONS, Glyndebourne, U.K., for the commission, production, and touring of Tangier Tattoo, a new opera created for young audiences, specifically targeting 18 to 30 year-olds.

$100,000 over two years to the SAN FRANCISCO BALLET, for the production of three world premiere ballets to be performed at a new Paris dance festival in Summer 2005; these new works will receive their U.S. premiere during the 2006 repertory season.

$60,000 over two years to the SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE, to support artistic salaries for play creation workshops over the next two years for the development of new musical satire theater.

$50,000 to SHUNT EVENTS, London, U.K., for the development and production of new work by this collective of ten theater artists.

$50,000 to the YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS, San Francisco, to produce and present local, national, and international performance artists exploring contemporary cultural and artistic themes selected by the Center, each of which will be accompanied by film screenings and visual arts exhibitions throughout the season.

$100,000 over two years to YOUTH SPEAKS, San Francisco, for continuing support of the Living Word Festival, which supports the creation of new literary work and the emergence of new literary art forms by writers, poets, and performance artists living on the West Coast, with a focus on artists of color and queer artists. The Festival is presented annually in October at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Art that encourages civic awareness of and a focus on the need to develop sustainable communities and economies, and to protect human rights:

$25,000 to BRAVA! FOR WOMEN IN THE ARTS, San Francisco, for a 2005 production of Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, a new play about the hundreds of men incarcerated indefinitely by the U.S. government in a military prison in Cuba who are living in legal limbo. The play, which raises questions about government abuse and human rights violations, is based on letters and testimonies of current and former detainees, interviews with their families, and a speech by a high-ranking British judge.

$100,000 over two years to the CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, San Francisco, for a multi-media project, When Government Worked: California’s New Deal Legacy and Lesson, by photographer Robert Dawson, author Gray Brechin, and filmmaker Chris Beaver.

$25,000 to the JAPANESE COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL CENTER OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, San Francisco, for the Waribashi Project, an installation art project by artist Donna Keiko Ozawa that exposes and explores the tremendous environmental impact of the use of disposable chopsticks.

$20,000 to the OBERLIN DANCE COLLECTIVE, San Francisco, for a new multi-media (dance, music, video) collaboration entitled On a Train Heading South, inspired by the environmental crisis posed by the melting of the polar ice caps and human complacency in the face of natural disaster.

Art from a variety of cultures and perspectives:

$150,000 over three years to BRAVA! FOR WOMEN IN THE ARTS, San Francisco, for continuing support of Two Generations, One HeartBEAT, a collaborative theatrical project that that unites ColoredInk, a performance group developed by at-risk youth involved in the Brava Theater Academy; the San Francisco Running Crew, Brava’s youth technical theater training program; and established artists and community activists for a variety of performances and workshops.

$50,000 to the SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, for Gershwin, Bernstein, and Yiddish Theater: How Jewish Culture Shaped American Music, a two-week festival in June 2005, that explores the influence of Jewish culture on music in America between the turn of the last century and the Second World War.

Other:

$50,000 to the SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, for planning and development of the capital campaign for a Museum of the City of San Francisco to be built in the Old Mint, an historic building at the corner of Fifth and Mission Streets.

$250,000 over five years to the SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, for development of the museum of the City and County of San Francisco in the Old Mint.

$50,000 to the WIGMORE HALL TRUST, London, U.K., to refurbish the concert hall, with funds earmarked for improved seating.