City College’s Gregory Kondos Gallery has just been given a $1 million endowment by Christopher and Dana Daubert. Christopher had worked at City College for 23 years as an art professor, and was the volunteer director of the campus art gallery from 1997 to 2009.

The endowment will establish the Christopher D. and Dana Daubert Endowment for Art Education, which will pay for a permanent gallery lead position indefinitely. According to a City College news release, the gift from the Dauberts represents the “largest gift to any Los Rios college by a living donor.”

The hard work and upkeep that goes into the gallery has been done by volunteers since its creation in the 1930s. Although the work could take up to 40 hours weekly, Daubert said that “it was a joy,” and after his retirement from the college a few years ago he is glad to pass on the responsibility “to someone new who will bring their own perspective and ideas to the gallery.” 

The endowment must be invested for up to six months before it can be used to hire a gallery lead.

“When an endowment is made, you are essentially creating an agreement with our campus that the money will be invested … and we will only use a small percentage each year,” said Victoria Austin, City College’s regional director of philanthropy. “We’ll have money available for this every year going forward.”

The Gregory Kondos Gallery focuses on more than its namesake, who was a former director of the gallery in the 1970s and a renowned landscape painter who died in 2021. It showcases works from both City College alumni and students, and other Sacramento artists.

Austin said she hopes that the money will give “stability to the gallery and allow for a new future where there is someone every year that can be counted on.”

The gallery reopened earlier this year, after being closed for about two years, along with the rest of the campus, because of the pandemic.

“It’s been tough these past couple of years with the gallery being closed due to the pandemic, but I think this position is coming at a great time where we can have people from the community come back. …  I’m really excited for the opportunities we’ll have for student and community engagement,” Austin said.

The new gallery lead will be in charge of creating and planning different showcases, curating and cataloging art, and better utilizing City College’s extensive art collection, which includes about 1,200 pieces. 

With someone in this position, “we’ll be able to use those art pieces more purposefully,” Austin said. “We can integrate it into the curriculum and even give students an opportunity to learn how to curate art by working with the collection.”

In honor of the Dauberts, the Arts Courtyard will be renamed the Daubert Courtyard for the Arts. Christopher Daubert’s office overlooked the courtyard, and every day for more than two decades, he would look out his window and “see student musicians practicing, actors rehearsing and, of course, student artists sketching. … My wife and I are very surprised and pleased that it will be renamed in our honor.”