Amway Family Endows Kennedy Center Institute

By Stephanie Kaye

The Kennedy Center is keeping the doors of its arts management institute open after receiving a $22.5 million dollar grant.

The newly-named DeVos Institute of Arts Management focuses on training arts administrators in the U.S. and around the world. The center is based at the Kennedy Center but has operating programs worldwide.

The institute is being renamed for Betsy and Dick DeVos, longtime philanthropists whose family started Amway in 1959. The DeVoses have stepped in after funding from Internet investment advisor Alberto Vilar. Vilar was was recently sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud.

The DeVos contribution includes $2.5 million for the operating budget of the new institute, and $20 million dollars for an endowment to fund the institute indefinitely.

Listen to the complete story at wamu.org

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