Open letter to Gordon Getty
SfSchools member "khandrola" penned the following open letter, which I'm happy to post here on the blog:
After reading about the amounts of money Gordon Getty spends on just his birthday party
As a patron ( and sometime participant) of the arts, why are you not leading the drive to support and grow the next generation of artists here in San Francisco? By the next generation I mean school children. The school of the arts has been languishing for almost 10 years now, trying to raise the money to renovate the building on Van Ness so they will have a permanent home. San Francisco, with it's world class music, dance, and theater institutions and proximity to Los Angeles, has the opportunity to become the west coast equivalent of the famous New York School of the Performing Arts
Anyone who follows the fortunes of SFUSD in the press and funding problems from Sacramento, knows that the original plan of this school cannot be funded with district funds anymore. Private leadership and giving on a large scale will be necessary to renovate this building so SOTA and the Academy can move. The site they occupy right now is constantly under siege as other groups in the system jealously eye it for their own programs.
By having private money used in the design of building that will support the arts with visual art and dance studios, orchestra rooms, video arts studios, small and large theaters, etc. there will be no doubt that such a place can secure the future of San Francisco as a magnet for the visual and performing arts.
So I ask you, Please give up your next birthday party and use those funds to get this started. Better still, ask a few of your similarly financially endowed friends to do the same. Show your dedication to the future of your home by enabling those young artists who come after you to have a incubator of their own.
After reading about the amounts of money Gordon Getty spends on just his birthday party
"According to P.J Corkery, the recent birthday party for Gordon Getty included 500 pounds of beef at $290 per pound. That’s $145,000 for only one item in the lavish feast, an amount equal to the combined average incomes of over six Tenderloin families with kids."I am moved to pose a challenge to him:
As a patron ( and sometime participant) of the arts, why are you not leading the drive to support and grow the next generation of artists here in San Francisco? By the next generation I mean school children. The school of the arts has been languishing for almost 10 years now, trying to raise the money to renovate the building on Van Ness so they will have a permanent home. San Francisco, with it's world class music, dance, and theater institutions and proximity to Los Angeles, has the opportunity to become the west coast equivalent of the famous New York School of the Performing Arts
Anyone who follows the fortunes of SFUSD in the press and funding problems from Sacramento, knows that the original plan of this school cannot be funded with district funds anymore. Private leadership and giving on a large scale will be necessary to renovate this building so SOTA and the Academy can move. The site they occupy right now is constantly under siege as other groups in the system jealously eye it for their own programs.
By having private money used in the design of building that will support the arts with visual art and dance studios, orchestra rooms, video arts studios, small and large theaters, etc. there will be no doubt that such a place can secure the future of San Francisco as a magnet for the visual and performing arts.
So I ask you, Please give up your next birthday party and use those funds to get this started. Better still, ask a few of your similarly financially endowed friends to do the same. Show your dedication to the future of your home by enabling those young artists who come after you to have a incubator of their own.
2 Comments:
I was talking to a SOTA insider about this. The unofficial reaction is: Hurray for supporting SOTA and the plan to create a world-class arts education resource in our city's arts center. Naturally, every individual is free to spend his/her money as he/she wishes, and the SOTA community would never chide them -- but all support for the Civic Center campus is welcome.
I encouraged this person to put a little more information out into the public realm about what's going on with the plan. The Civic Center SOTA campus will require a significant capital campaign from the arts and philanthropy community, and planning for that is underway; the actual capital campaign hasn't begun.
My Dearest Khandy,
Apologies for forgetting once again to invite you to my 71st.
You suggest perhaps that I forego my 72nd?
How then, can I invite you to a party that will not exist?
Your strategy of criticizing my choice (and cost) of menu items, to be followed by a request for my hard earned money seems slightly incongruous.
And please remember, yes it was $290 per pound, but that was the ENTREE (I spent significantly less for the appetizers and desserts).
Additionally, that was not just any beef - that was KOBE beef. Do you have any idea of how hard it was to convince Mr. Bryant to allow us to strip the tender flesh from his thighs?
Yes, it will regenerate, but in the meantime he is the only player in the NBA to have to wear those awful black leggings (and frankly, Shaq was quite cruel in his ribbing of Mr. Bryant - he drew no line at Kobe's ribs, as we did in our menu selection).
In closing, let me assure you that I underwrite the full cost of SODA at EVERY birthday party. It's just that the people in my social circle prefer champagne.
With fondest regards,
Gordon
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