Glorya Kaufman, dance school patron, made a USC trustee

Arts patron Glorya Kaufman – known as “the dancing philanthropist” – was elected to the University of Southern California Board of Trustees on Dec. 5.

Kaufman recently gave the university an multimillion-dollar endowment for the creation of a dance school in Kaufman’s name, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. The school’s curriculum will focus on contemporary and classical dance, as well as dancer wellness and the business side of dance.

“I am delighted to welcome Glorya Kaufman to our Board of Trustees,” USC President C.L. Max Nikias said in statement.

“With her far-reaching vision of enabling all members of society to benefit from the transformative powers of art, and her strategic focus on arts education, I know that she will contribute significantly to the continued vitality of the university and its mission of enriching the human mind and spirit.”

Kaufman has been an active arts patron since the early 1980s since the death of her husband, Donald Bruce Kaufman, of the home construction and financing firm Kaufman & Broad, now KB Homes. She gave $20 million in 2009 to create Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, $18 million to UCLA in 1999, $6 million to New York’s Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and $3.5 million to the Juilliard School.

The Glorya Kaufman School of Dance is the first new, endowment-funded school to be established at USC in nearly 40 years. It’s planned to open in fall 2015.

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