The Conrad Prebys Foundation has announced grants totaling nearly $78 million in support of arts and culture, conservation, education, health care, medical research, and youth development in the San Diego region.

The foundation's first round of competitive grants includes awards of $15 million to the San Diego Symphony — $12.5 million to complete The Shell, a new outdoor concert venue on San Diego Bay, and $2.5 million for the venue's operating costs; $8 million to public radio and television station KPBS in support of arts programming; and $6 million to San Diego State University in support of a new black box theater for student productions.

Recipients of health and medical research grants include Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla ($5 million), Scripps Research ($3.1 million), the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute ($3 million), the Salk Institute for Biological Studies ($1.5 million), the J. Craig Venter Institute ($1.5 million), and Rady Children's Hospital San Diego ($1 million). Other recipients include the Denny Sanford Children's Zoo ($5 million), the Fleet Science Center ($500,000), the Conrad Prebys Music Center at the University of California, San Diego ($500,000), an innovation center at California State University San Marcos ($250,000), and the Barrio Logan College Institute ($100,000), which helps homeless students enroll in college.

"The grantees have exhibited an extraordinary level of resilience, innovation, and compassion during this very challenging time, and it is these organizations that will heal our community in the months and years to come," said Erin Decker, director of grantmaking for the foundation. "The foundation is proud to be a part of their story." 

"San Diego has a lot of wealth and a number of generous philanthropists. But we don't have a culture of philanthropy that is as deep as it is in other parts of the country," Decker told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "The inaugural grant cycle is launching in the middle of a pandemic when the need is so substantial. I hope it inspires others to give across the entire San Diego region."

(Image credit: San Diego Symphony)