September 26, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  John Pavlik - 310-247-3000

Beverly Hills, CA -The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (9/25) to contribute a million dollars to aid the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The gift is far and away the largest in the nonprofit organization's history.

Academy President Frank Pierson said that "the timing seemed right. This was our annual budget meeting, and our controller and PricewaterhouseCoopers had just told us that we were in very good shape financially. When Kathy Bates suggested that we make a quarter-million-dollar contribution to the relief efforts, it didn't take long for the other governors to approve four times that much."

Pierson said that he was appointing a committee to study how the funds might best be distributed, and that a final decision as to the disposition of the money would be made at the Board's December meeting. He pointed out that the Academy Foundation distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and charitable contributions each year, but that all such support in the past has gone to motion picture-related entities.

"It seemed like a good time to expand our scope a bit," Pierson said.