TBI CONSTRUCTION BEGINS KINKADE ARTS CENTER, SCULPTURE AT MITTY HIGH SCHOOL
November 1, 2002

SAN JOSE - Having completed an Events Center and Mathematics and Science Center at Archbishop Mitty High School, TBI Construction has started work on a Performing Arts Center named for painter Thomas Kinkade, who is a major contributor. The project includes an outdoor sculpture inspired by “Sunrise,” the painting of a cross atop a mountain that Mr. Kinkade presented to Pope John Paul II two years ago.

Mr. Kinkade, the “Painter of Light” renowned for his peaceful and emotionally uplifting images, has pledged $1 million over three years for the Kinkade Performing Arts Center. The initial contribution will come from the proceeds of a charitable edition of this year’s annual Kinkade Christmas painting, which is entitled “San Jose Hometown Christmas.”

The completed Events Center comprises the upper floor of a 22,000-square-foot building, with math and science classrooms on the lower floor. It includes two physics lecture rooms, a physics laboratory and seven math classrooms. The lower floor area opens onto a tiered amphitheater with sod terracing. The design is by Steinberg Group Architects of San Jose.

The Kinkade Performing Arts Center is being built in what had been the Cafeteria Building. It will feature a 371-seat theater, stages, dressing rooms and presentation areas for plays, performances and presentations. The project includes a new, two-story faculty office building that will be built adjacent to the performing arts center. This building will provide 6,000 square feet of space for teachers to meet, work and prepare educational materials, and it includes a Tutorial Center.

The Thomas Kinkade Foundation has set aside 3,950 special, charitable reproductions of “San Jose Hometown Christmas” for sale, unframed at $99 apiece or framed $200, which is significantly below the price in galleries. Additionally, the artist will sign each of the reproductions sold during a special event in the Mediterranean Room of the San Jose Hyatt Hotel starting from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Robert Davis, president of the Placerville-based foundation, said the sale of special editions for charity has been used successfully many times as a method for leveraging Mr. Kinkade’s talent. About 90% of the proceeds go to the designated charity, which will fulfill the foundation’s first-year pledge of $330,000 for Archbishop Mitty High School. The Thomas Kinkade Foundation focuses on children. In addition to schools and the arts, contributions range from a skateboard park in the inner city to a children’s home in Guatemala.

“The projects we support must be tangible and include community involvement,” Mr. Kinkade said. “What was exciting about Archbishop Mitty High School is the opportunity it provides to raise awareness of the school’s goals for academic excellence. We pledged $1 million. Archbishop Mitty in turn pledged to engage the entire school community in the project. We’ve done this in the past. I create a painting to celebrate the community. We use that painting to teach the community vision and pride, but it also serves fund-raising purposes.”
Archbishop Mitty Principal Tim Brosnan said the Kinkade contribution was instrumental in allowing the school to begin construction on the performing arts center. The performing arts center, he said, is extraordinarily important for the school, which has 1,550 students and an award-winning performing arts program with more than 300 students involved, but previously only a stage in the cafeteria for performances.

As a result of the new project, the students already are referring to the “Sunrise” sculpture as “Mount Kinkade.” The sculpture uses high-tech craftsmanship and materials to depict the lone cross on a rugged mountaintop, which is symbolic both of the Christian faith and of hope in general. Mr. Kinkade said the theme was inspired by the 18th century paintings of Caspar Friedrich, a German of the Northern Romanticist School.

The Archbishop Mitty High School project is the second on which TBI Construction has worked closely with Mr. Kinkade. In 2001, TBI completed the 350,000-square foot headquarters, production facilities and warehouse for Media Arts Group, Inc., which manufactures and markets the works of Mr. Kinkade. Media Arts Group is located in the 110-acre Madrone Business Park in Morgan Hill. The business park was developed by TBI-Mission West LLC, a partnership formed between Toeniskoetter & Breeding Development and Berg & Berg in conjunction with Mission West Properties, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT).

Founded in 1983, TBI Construction has completed more than $700 million in projects throughout the Bay Area. In addition to schools and corporate headquarters, the company specializes in construction management for public agencies, high-quality interior improvements, historical restoration and renovation, religious institutions and new buildings for Toeniskoetter & Breeding’s own portfolio and for others.