The Windgate Charitable Foundation recently awarded Azusa Pacific University a 1:2 challenge grant of $3 million to establish scholarships for art majors and to support a graduate program that equips student leaders in the field of art education. The matching funds of $1.5 million, to be raised by April 2016, will increase the total art endowment to $4.5 million.

"The $3 million pledge from the Windgate Charitable Foundation serves as a landmark moment in the early formation of the College of Music and the Arts,” said Stephen P. Johnson, DMA, dean. “Raising an additional $1.5 million to meet the challenge grant provides a catalyst to engage the greater arts community and share the story of art education at Azusa Pacific University.”

“The Windgate Charitable Foundation gift changes the landscape of the student experience within the Department of Art and Design,” said G. James Daichendt Ed.D., associate dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts,and professor in the Department of Art and Design. “It establishes an endowment for student scholarships in addition to funding a bold online initiative in art education. These developments allow for broader access and relevancy, making a Christ-centered education in the arts at Azusa Pacific University even more effective and attainable.”

The Windgate Charitable Foundation, based in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, supports programs focused on the visual arts, art history, and Christian higher education.

For more information about Azusa Pacific’s challenge grant, please contact Corbin Hoornbeek at (626) 815-5331.

The mission of the Azusa Pacific University Department of Art and Design, part of the School of Visual and Performing Arts and housed in the College of Music and the Arts, is to prepare art students for a lifetime of artistic expression and to cultivate individual creativity through the study of history, technique, presentation, and social engagement, as a reflector of the creative and transformative nature of God. The Department of Art and Design offers three undergraduate majors