Television producer and writer Chuck Lorre has donated $1 million to the Museum of Contemporary Art to ensure as many students as possible in Los Angeles’ most underserved neighborhoods have equal access to art, music and education, it was announced Wednesday.
The gift from the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation will support the museum’s flagship arts education program, Contemporary Art Start. Additionally, MOCA is partnering with the Lorre foundation to expand the reach of the foundation’s Young Sheldon Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Music Grant programs by administering supplemental grants to 48 CAS schools, MOCA said.
Initiated in 1985, CAS is an award-winning program that has provided students and teachers across Los Angeles County with sustained teacher training, classroom curriculums, class visits to MOCA and family involvement opportunities. CAS currently serves over 167 teachers and 8,350 students on an annual basis and provides a classroom partnership program for third through 12th grade, MOCA says.
MOCA was one of six California-based museums to receive the highly competitive 2023 Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Museum Education by the California Association of Museums and the California Department of Education.
“We are deeply grateful for this gift from The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation and this unique opportunity to collaborate with the foundation,” Johanna Burton, Maurice Marciano Director of MOCA, said in a statement.
“With support from this grant, the museum will be able to serve our community of students and teachers in the CAS program, connecting them to the transformative power of the art of our time for years to come. The museum plays an important role as a catalyst for life-changing learning experiences, and this grant allows us to maintain our commitment to providing a consistent level of impact for CAS while offering exciting new STEM and music enhancements to the schools we serve,” the statement continued.
Known as the “king of sitcoms,” Lorre created or co-created shows such as “Cybill,” “Dharma & Greg,” “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Young Sheldon” and “Mom.”