2016 Nebraska Governor's Arts Awardee - Johnny Carson Foundation

2016 Nebraska Governor's Arts Awardee - Johnny Carson Foundation
Leonard Thiessen Award
Presented by the Nebraska Arts Council
The Johnny Carson Foundation
For 35 years, the Johnny Carson Foundation has displayed outstanding commitment to the arts in Nebraska. A key gift from Johnny Carson was instrumental in the establishment of the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and the foundation has continued this commitment with a total of $1,750,000 in contributions to date. In Norfolk, Mr. Carson’s hometown, the Foundation has donated more than $5 million to support a variety of organizations. It provided funds to help construct Norfolk High School’s Johnny Carson Theater and enable theater upgrades like improved sound and lighting systems. The Foundation also has contributed to the Norfolk Arts Center, allowing the center to provide art classes for the local community.

Generous support from the Foundation also has helped to create a vibrant arts community at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Mr. Carson’s alma mater. This includes providing more than $13 million to bolster the university’s theater, film and broadcasting programs and to renovate UNL’s Temple Building, which is home to the university’s theater program. The Foundation’s dedication to arts education is further reflected by its substantial gift to create the Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship Fund, an endowed scholarship to support students from Nebraska pursuing degrees through UNL’s Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Importantly, the Foundation made a gift to finish construction of the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln, which hosts international performing artists and provides statewide outreach education programs. In addition, the Foundation provided funding for the black box theater at the Lied Center – named the Johnny Carson Theater in his honor – which hosts more than 100 events annually. Combined, these gifts have helped the Lied Center emerge as one of the state’s most visible and important cultural institutions.

In November 2015, the Foundation announced a $20 million gift to establish the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at UNL, an interdisciplinary research and creative center specializing in digital virtual production and design. The Center’s mission is to explore new forms of emerging media that lie beyond the foundations of traditional filmmaking and will prepare students for diverse career opportunities in the 21st century.