video / alumni

About Alumni Awards

The Alumni Awards provide an opportunity for ArtCenter to publicly recognize the talent, service and influence of our alumni.

2021 Alumni Awards

Bruce Heavin, Outstanding Service Award

"Giving to ArtCenter is the gift that keeps on giving," says Bruce Heavin (BFA 93 Illustration). "Generosity is not just about money. You could be generous with your time, your empathy."   

Heavin and his wife Lynda Weinman, founders of lynda.com, have been transformational donors at ArtCenter for nearly two decades.

As chief creative officer of lynda.com, Heavin’s vision was integral to the company’s success as a pioneering platform for virtual training.

Still, Heavin is much more than a successful business owner: He's an illustrator, an artist, an educator, an innovator, a serious art collector and a deeply committed philanthropist.

For Heavin, education is not only the act of imparting knowledge. Equally important is the exchange of ideas.

"As I see it, education is really the way of interacting with your teachers, your peers and your environment," he says. "It's not just life in the institution—to me, education is lifelong. "In Heavin’s view, failure is a key element in education. He believes in a culture of generosity, positive values and trust to  foster creativity.

Heavin supports the lynda.com Endowed and Annual Scholarship, as well as the Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman Endowed Scholarship.

"We started giving a scholarship to a single illustration student, and it's grown to put 65 students through ArtCenter,” he says. “It makes me feel really proud and really good."

Heavin has also invested in the footprint and focus of our campus: Through the Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman  Alumni Center, ArtCenter has a lounge and conference room dedicated to our alumni network of more than 24,000 artists and designers. A highlight is a wall-sized interactive digital gallery display featuring decades of outstanding alumni works. 

Heavin has also gifted ArtCenter the Bruce Heavin Media Production Studio, a state-of-the-art film stage, incorporating the latest audio, visual technology sound, isolation rooms, editing bays and a viewing lounge. The studio provides the College with the vital production resources needed to develop virtual education programming.

Beyond these generous gifts, Heavin has served as a founding board member of FullCircle, the College’s giving society, and was elected to the ArtCenter Board of Trustees in June 2014.

"Giving is a circle at one point you need, and at another point, you're able to give back," he says.

We are deeply grateful for ongoing support of alum Bruce Haven, whose philanthropy is a literal proof of ArtCenter's, very reason for being: Learn to create. Influence change.

The accompanying video was an ArtCenter production through and through and we are deeply grateful for this talented team

Producer, Writer and Director: Photography and Imaging alum Matthew Rolston
Executive Producers: Keiko Doi (BFA 97 Fine Art), Laura Shumate
Editor: Denis Ogorodov (BFA 13 Film)
Moton Graphics Design: El Ogrodova (BFA 11 Graphic Design)
Cinematography: Henry Yin (MFA 19 Film)