Posted on December 16, 2006

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Jada Pinkett Smith Donates $1 Million to Baltimore School for the Arts

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith has donated $1 million to her alma mater, the Baltimore School for the Arts, through the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation to support the school's renovation and expansion, the Associated Press reports.

Smith, who graduated from the school in 1989, has asked that the theater, which will be named in her honor, be dedicated to her close friend and former classmate, Tupac Shakur, the rapper/actor who was murdered in 1996. Pinkett Smith and her husband actor Will Smith had previously given $112,500 to the school. When a $30 million expansion program is finished in the fall of 2007, the school will increase its enrollment of 316 students by nearly 20 percent.

"It means a lot when you're a teacher and your most famous alumnus comes back to give a donation," said Donald Hicken, Pinkett Smith's former teacher and head of BSFA's theater department. "It really says a lot to the community that the school matters in people's lives."

“Actress Gives $1 Million to Arts School.” Associated Press 12/12/06.

Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Location(s): Baltimore, Maryland

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