LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- East West Bank, a leading independent bank in United States founded by Chinese American, donated 5 million U.S. dollars to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco for its ambitious For All program.
According to a press release sent to Xinhua Thursday, the Los Angeles-based bank said this donation will fund the museum's five-year-long transforming program to build the East West Bank Art Terrace, which is a 700-square-meter outdoor venue.
For All is a 90-million-U.S.-dollar privately funded capital campaign to transform the museum with a new special exhibitions pavilion and refurbished galleries which are expected to open in 2020.
The campaign is spearheaded by the museum's dual governing boards chairwomen Akiko Yamazaki. The lady pledged a leadership gift of 25 million U.S. dollars to the campaign with her husband Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jerry Yang, and the new pavilion will be officially recognized by the couple's name.
The Art Terrace will be positioned atop the new 1,200-square-meter pavilion. It will feature contemporary sculpture and commissioned installations, representing new acquisitions from the museum's collection, as well as significant loans from notable artists.
The donation from East West Bank is the largest corporate contribution to the For All campaign and matches the largest corporate donation in the museum's over 50-year history.
"By supporting this transformation project and the upcoming exhibitions, we can further the ongoing cultural exchange between the East and the West and also extend the efforts of the Museum in showcasing Asian art," Dominic Ng, chairman, president and CEO of East West Bank, said in the press release.
East West Bank is the premier U.S. bank exclusively focused on the United States and Greater China markets. In 2018, Forbes ranked the bank among the top five of "America's 100 Best Banks" and No. 2 among "Best-In-State Banks" in California.
The Asian Art Museum-Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture is one of San Francisco's popular arts institutions and home to a world-renowned collection of more than 18,000 Asian art treasures from throughout Asia spanning 6,000 years of history.
