By Town Crier Report
 JOE HU/TOWN CRIER |
The Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) needed a major donor and soon. The city of Mountain View wanted the school to demonstrate that it had the resources to build its new $11 million campus. A Jan. 28 meeting with the council was looming.
Steve Finn’s $2 million donation provided the ideal Christmas gift for the school, supporters said. The gift brings total fund raising to $6.1 million so far, with $5 million to go. The gift means the school will be in good position for project approval. A public phase of the campaign is set for a Jan. 31 start, followed by a groundbreaking in February.
“He saw the impact this level of gift would be for us,” said Angela McConnell, the school’s executive director.
The school was further buoyed by news that the David and Lucile Packard Foundation of Los Altos has contributed $1 million to the project, including a $500,000 “program-related investment,” technically a loan, but one that guarantees an interest rate of only 1.25 percent.
Finn, a councilman and former mayor of Los Altos Hills, was approached a year ago. Fellow Councilman Robert Fenwick and Ruth Rogers acquainted Finn with the school and its efforts.
A recent meeting with McConnell led to Finn’s decision.
“For the past 33 years (the history of the school), we spent little time cultivating our constituency,” McConnell said. “When we talked to Steve, we told him this. … We told him what we need to find is an angel.”
Finn, a successful businessman, is the chairman, president and CEO of Trust Company of America, an independent trust company with headquarters in Englewood, Colo.
“I am proud to support such a significant project that will benefit the entire community. I hope that my gift will inspire others to step up and make leadership commitments,” Finn said.
Bob Reay, chairman of the CSMA board of directors, announced that in recognition of Finn’s multimillion-dollar gift, the building would be named the Finn Center for Arts Education.
“Steve’s gift is really a milestone for our campaign and for the entire community,” Reay said.
CSMA’s permanent home will be located at San Antonio Circle in Mountain View. The 25,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility will include music studios and classrooms, ceramics studio, electronic music/digital arts studio, faculty resource center and performance hall.
“We are enormously grateful to Steve Finn for this extraordinary gift,” McConnell said. “We applaud Mr. Finn’s commitment of substantial resources to this project in support of arts education for children and of the cultural life of residents throughout the Silicon Valley region. His gift will truly leave a legacy for generations to come.”
Of the foundation grant, $500,000 is an outright leadership gift, and the remaining $500,000 is a challenge grant. The challenge portion of the grant is to be matched by gifts of $25,000 or more during the campaign’s public phase.
CSMA is a non-profit center for arts education committed to providing arts for all, regardless of age, level, background or economic means.
Since its founding in 1968, CSMA has served more than a quarter million people throughout the Silicon Valley region.
In addition to music instruction (private lessons and classes) for all ages at its Mountain View site, CSMA collaborates with local school districts to bring hands-on arts education to local public and private schools. Through its arts-in-the-schools programs, Arts in Action and Music in Action, CSMA reaches 10,000 students yearly in schools from San Mateo to San Jose.
For information, visit the school at 253 Martens Ave., Mountain View, call 961-0342 or logon to www.arts4all.org.
