In 1980, Kile Ozier threw a “small” Oscars viewing party: “just” 25 friends with champagne, fancy food, and plenty of glitz and glamour. His party quickly grew to become the Academy of Friends, San Francisco’s largest Academy Awards-related event and one of the biggest Oscar-related fundraisers in the world.
Over the next 40 years, the Academy of Friends would go on to raise over $8.9 million for more than 73 HIV/AIDS service organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The organization had some hiccups nearly a decade ago, and struggled to pay some of their beneficiary organizations. Founder Kile Ozier was brought back in as a consultant for the 2012 gala to help downsize and simplify operations, and the organization was able to rebound from their struggles.
This year’s gala, appropriately named the Ruby Red Gala in honor of the Academy of Friends’ 40th anniversary, will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at the Commonwealth Club. Tickets range from $150 each to VIP packages of $8,000.
The 2020 beneficiary is the LGBT Asylum Project, which is dedicated to providing accessible legal representation for LGBT asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or HIV status. The organization provides support to immigrants in the San Francisco Asylum Office jurisdiction (from Bakersfield, California to Seattle, Washington), identify as LGBTQ+, and have been persecuted or have fears of future persecution if they return to their home country.
You can learn more about the Academy of Friends at their website and Facebook group, and from the Bay Area Reporter’s press coverage over the years.
