The Eisner Foundation Grants $1.25 Million to California Arts Program

Michael Eisner and his family's Eisner Foundation are donating $1.25 million to a program that brings art education to children at the California Institute for the Arts, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The former Walt Disney Co. chief executive's grant is the largest ever for the university's Community Arts Partnership and will be paid in $250,000 installments over the next five years. The grant will focus on new media, including film, video, animation and digital technology.

According to its Web site (http://www.calarts.edu/cap), the Community Arts Partnership brings together the Institute and the diverse communities of Los Angeles County through free, after-school and school-based arts programs for youth that are administered by CalArts faculty and students.

"We believe passionately in the potential of all young people, and think that connecting them to the resources of CalArts is a tremendous vehicle for advancing not only the youth of Los Angeles but the long-term viability of new media itself," Eisner said in a statement on the Foundation's Web site (http://www.eisnerfoundation.org/who_we_are/CalArtsEisnerFoundationpressr...).