NewsVisual: Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas and wife donate $25 million to University of Chicago

Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson an investment firm executive donated $25 million to University of Chicago for the development of the school’s new arts hall which will support new programs in theater, visual arts and music.

The new “Gordon Parks Arts Hall” will open at the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus in 2015 and is named after a photographer, musician and film director who came to Chicago in 1929 at the age of 17, who began as a photographer for LIFE magazine and then later went on to become an influential Hollywood film directors.

George Lucas quoted: “We believe in the power of art to transform lives and communities, Gordon Parks’ work did just that. Keeping his example at the heart of one of the nation’s outstanding urban schools will serve to inspire future generations for many years to come."

When it comes to high profile donors such as Lucas, it is certain that there are many causes and organizations vying for their patronage. The image from Prospect Visual shows a snapshot of the key relationships that George Lucas and his wife had with University of Chicago which may have been crucial factors when it came to making their decision to donate.