Cover Half Of Costs
Drew Halfnight, National Post
The campaign to rebuild North York's "Jewish City" just got a $20-million shot in the arm from a familiar source.
The donation from Toronto philanthropists Murray and Marvelle Koffler will cover half the cost of building the new Koffler Centre for the Arts at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West. Mr. Koffler helped build the original building in the late 1970s. It also bore his name.
"Toronto has once again been enriched by the generosity and vision of the Koffler family," fundraiser Frederic A. Waks said in a release. "This lead gift is an incredible launch for a fundraising campaign that will continue to contribute to the cultural landscape of our city."
The announcement from the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto marks a new phase in the Tomorrow Campaign, a $400-million fundraising drive that will see three huge, state-of-the-art Jewish community centres built in North York, Vaughan and downtown Toronto.
In 2004, the UJA finished work on the new Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre and the nearby Wolfond Centre for the University of Toronto chapter of Hillel. In 2007, the group competed the first phase of its development in Vaughan, which is home to the world's fastest-growing Jewish community outside of Israel.
In North York, the UJA already finished work on a community centre last year. It will soon add a separate arts complex, complete with dance and visual arts studios, performance spaces, a bookstore, a cafe and a museum-standard gallery.
The UJA has dubbed the 27-acre North York development a "Jewish City" that will represent "hope, opportunity, services and concern" for Jewish people living along the Bathurst corridor. It will include a Jewish Walk of Fame and a refurbished Holocaust museum.
"The Koffler family has long been associated with artistic excellence in this country, and we are thrilled that the Koffler Centre of the Arts will enter a new era celebrating a global artistic perspective in an incredible new facility," said Lori Starr, executive director of the centre.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=3020931
