Singer, actress and activist Barbra Streisand will fund an institute at UCLA focused on addressing societal challenges such as climate change, environmental health and combating misinformation in public discourse, the university announced Monday.
“It is my great pleasure to be able to fund an institute at UCLA, one of the world’s premier universities,” Streisand said in a statement released by the university. “This will be a place where future scholars can discuss, engage and argue about the most important issues of the day; where innovators will speak truth to power, help save our planet, and make glass ceilings for women an anachronism; and in the process give us a chance to have a brighter, more promising future.”
The Barbra Streisand Institute will be housed in UCLA’s Division of Social Sciences and include four research centers:
— The Center for Truth in the Public Sphere;
— The Center for the Impact of Climate Change;
— The Center for the Dynamics of Intimacy & Power Between Women & Men; and
— The Center for the Impact of Art on the Culture.
“Building upon her decades of work as an artist and activist, Barbra Streisand’s visionary act of generosity will enable UCLA scholars from many different fields to collaborate on research that will move society forward,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement.
The legendary performer has won two Oscars in her career, along with five Emmys, 10 Grammys — including the Legend Award and Lifetime Achievement Award, a Tony Award, 11 Golden Globes — including the Cecil B. DeMille Award — three Peabody Awards and the National Medal of the Arts. She’s also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
As a philanthropist, Streisand has supported cardiovascular research and education at Cedars-Sinai since 2007, and in 2012 the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai was renamed in her honor. She also established the Streisand Chair in Cardiology at UCLA in 1984, and in 2014 the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Health Program began at the university.
“The Barbra Streisand Instute at UCLA will be an exploration into vital issues that affect us all … and the fact that my father, Emanuel Streisand, was an educator makes this Institute even more meaningful to me,” Streisand said.
The institute’s first area of study and advocacy will focus on truth in the public sphere, exploring “urgent and existential threats to democracy” while examining “how lies and the proliferation of disinformation can destroy a civic sense of decency,” according to the university.