CAL PERFORMANCES RECEIVES $800,000 KRESGE FOUNDATION GRANT,
THE LARGEST CAPITAL CHALLENGE GRANT AWARDED
TO THE UC BERKELEY CAMPUS

CAL PERFORMANCES' CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING GOAL OF
$15 MILLION IS SURPASSED

A CELEBRATION LUNCHEON AND PERFORMANCE OF NATALIA MAKAROVA'S
SWAN LAKE TO BE HELD SUNDAY, MARCH 30

BERKELEY, March 11, 2008— Cal Performances Director Robert Cole announces today that the organization has achieved its $15 million Centennial Campaign fundraising goal and, consequently, has received an $800,000 challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation. "Actually, The Kresge grant was so effective in its encouragement of our fundraising activities," says Cole, "that we surpassed our goal by one million dollars." This is the single largest challenge grant The Kresge Foundation has ever made to a department on the UC Berkeley campus. The grant required that Cal Performances raise $14.2 million in private funds before receiving The Kresge Foundation funds. Cal Performances raised a total of $15.9 million before the closing date of February 2008.

Cal Performances' Centennial campaign, publicly announced at the Centennial Celebration Gala on May 12, 2006, was designed to support three initiatives: to invest in new artistic initiatives; to increase the endowment; and to expand production capacity and audience amenities in Zellerbach Hall through capital improvements. Zellerbach Hall projects that have been initiated are upgrading lighting and acoustic systems, and renovation of the mezzanine café and restrooms (to be completed in August 2008); and the replacement of seating in the performance hall (completed during the summer of 2005).

The announcement of the Kresge Foundation challenge in July 2006 provided an exhilarating stimulus and a vote of confidence in Cal Performances. Using the leverage of the prospective Kresge Foundation grant to inspire a sense of urgency and commitment, the Campaign Committee moved forward with increased vigor to cultivate and solicit newly identified prospects for major gifts and grants, and to return with a strengthened case for support to as-yet-uncommitted prospects.

"Cal Performances is deeply grateful for the support The Kresge Foundation has shown to our institution. This challenge grant has inspired our donors to give at their most generous level and has encouraged Cal Performances to aspire to new heights of commitment from the arts funding community," says Cole. "The Centennial Campaign has enabled Cal Performances to begin its next century of service to the University community and Bay Area audiences with greater strength and stability, while presenting an even richer array of world-class artists."

During the final six months of The Kresge challenge period Cal Performances initiated a Seat Naming Campaign to reach out to its broader public. The Seat Naming Campaign gives donors the opportunity to have an engraved name plaque placed at the top of a seat in Zellerbach Hall in honor of a person or group. The Seat Naming Campaign, as well as the Centennial Campaign, remains underway until June 30, 2008.

A Centennial Campaign Celebration luncheon is planned for Sunday, March 30, 2008, to honor donors of $1,000 and above. Prima ballerina Natalia Makarova will be Cal Performances' special guest at the celebration. Following, patrons will attend the matinee performance of Makarova's acclaimed production of Swan Lake performed by Russia's Tchaikovsky Perm Ballet and Orchestra, in Zellerbach Hall.

THE KRESGE FOUNDATION

The Kresge Foundation is a private foundation that supports communities by building the capacity of nonprofit organizations in six fields: health, the environment, arts and culture, education, human services and community development. Sebastian S. Kresge established the foundation; it is not associated with any corporation or organization.

Nine values serve as the centerpiece of our grantmaking: creating opportunity, community impact, institutional transformation, risk, environmental conservation, innovation, collaboration, underserved geography and diversity. Through the application of these values, Kresge gains a holistic understanding of the nature and impact of an organization's work.

The Foundation's primary grantmaking tool is its Challenge Grant Program. It is designed to assist nonprofit organizations as they work to strengthen leadership and financial support through challenge grants for capital projects. The challenge grant supports the construction and renovation of facilities, the acquisition of property and the purchase of equipment.

"From its earliest days Kresge has sought to strengthen nonprofit organizations by supporting their physical expansion," says Rip Rapson, President and CEO of The Kresge Foundation. "Over time, and in recognition that facility projects require significant capital, the idea of issuing capital challenge grants emerged as the Foundation's central grantmaking tool. It provides organizations with deadline-driven incentives to complete their project by enlisting a broad base of individual donors." Cal Performances' successful Centennial Campaign is an example of this effective strategy.

"With the awarding of this grant, we are saluting your efforts to improve conditions and advance opportunities in your community," says President Rapson. "We must partner with nonprofit organizations such as yours if we are to pursue our grantmaking vision. You enable our work as much as we try to enable yours."

In 2006, the Foundation approved 230 grants throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa, totaling $152 million.

CAL PERFORMANCES

Cal Performances is the largest presenter of performing arts in Northern California, one of the largest university-based arts presenters in the country, and, with Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is considered one of the leading performing arts centers in the nation. Utilizing five venues on or near the UC Berkeley campus including Zellerbach Auditorium and Playhouse, Hertz Hall, and the majestic Greek Theatre, and additional venues off-campus, Cal Performances presents over 140 performances each year, and hosts innumerable other University and public events, bringing over 300,000 patrons to the campus annually. Under the direction of Robert Cole, Cal Performances is a model for performing arts centers nationwide—presenting, commissioning and producing the work of performing artists, both world-renowned and emerging, on the University campus, as well as extending the arts into the community and classroom. As part of the University of California at Berkeley, Cal Performances is dedicated to the educational and public service goals of the University and to enhancing the cultural environment of the campus and the greater Bay Area community.

Artists such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cecilia Bartoli, Mark Morris, Yo-Yo Ma, Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones, Jordi Savall, Peter Sellars, Robert Lepage, Laurie Anderson, John Adams and Lou Harrison have appeared regularly and premiered work on the UC Berkeley campus. Cal Performances has been instrumental in facilitating the touring of large ensembles from abroad, and hosted such esteemed companies as the Grand Kabuki Theater of Japan, the Kirov and Bolshoi orchestras and ballet companies, the Lyon Opera Ballet and Orchestra, the Berliner Ensemble, the Gate Theater of Dublin, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, National Ballet of China and Nederland Dans Theater, among others. United States' companies to appear at Zellerbach Hall include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Mark Morris Dance Group, Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Miami City Ballet, among many others. The Berkeley campus is also home to the largest World Stage series in the country, with performers from around the globe appearing at Zellerbach Hall annually; and, with the Department of Music and San Francisco Early Music Society, Cal Performances presents the biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition of early music, as well as the Edge Fest of new performance.

Cal Performances also manages Student Musical Activities (SMA). Comprised of The Cal Marching Band, The UC Jazz Ensembles, and the UC Choral Ensembles, SMA has served the University through the many contributions of its student members. SMA offers Cal students extra-curricular opportunities ranging from performance to musical instruction and training, as well as experience in student leadership and arts administration. Some 600 students participate in SMA annually, while the public served by SMA—from football games to alumni and fundraising events—numbers in the thousands.

Cal Performances brings recognition to the University not only through the scope of artistic programming, but also by way of community service through arts education. The artists who appear at Cal Performances participate in extended residencies and in community education programs. Direct educational services provided include: SchoolTime, Cal Performances in the Classroom (created with the Berkeley Unified School District through participation in the Kennedy Center's Partners in Education program); and AileyCamp, the nationally acclaimed six-week summer dance program for underserved youths, ages 11 to 14, which takes place at Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.