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Martial Arts Museum Receives Financial Donation from Alan Horn

The Martial Arts History Museum has received a generous financial donation from Alan Horn, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Studios. Through the Alan Horn Foundation, Horn has been a long-standing supporter of the Martial Arts History Museum and has graciously provided support every year since the Museum opened its doors in 2006.

The undisclosed amount will allow the Martial Arts History Museum to begin focusing their efforts in providing a safer environment in their outside pavilion area with proper shading so that young school children can enjoy many of the museum’s programs in a more comfortable environment.

“One of our wonderful features of the Museum is that every few weeks we provide a variety of different programs for the community and school children to enjoy. Some are held inside the Museum while others are performed in our outside pavilion, which allows for more space. In Southern California, it can become very hot and the Museum only has enough funds to provide a make-shift awning to provide shade for our children. This donation will help us begin making plans to install a better and more sun-proof awning,” notes Museum president Michael Matsuda.

The Martial Arts History Museum, which opened in the city of Santa Clarita relocated to the city of Burbank, CA in 2011.  The Museum is not a who’s who of the martial arts, rather, it is designed as an educational facility teaching young people about Asian art, culture and tradition and how Asian history became part of American history through the martial arts.

From the birth of kung fu, how President Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to learn martial arts, the effect of the Gold Rush era to an American winning the first Olympic gold medal for tae kwon do, the Museum provides both a visually stimulating facility as well as unique information about the arts. Within their media area, the Museum traces the impact of Asian film stars such as Anna May Wong, Toshiro Mifune all the way to today’s animation films such Kung Fu Panda and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

“The Museum was designed for everyone to enjoy. Many artists and propmakers from Dreamworks, Disney and The Simpsons have been extremely generous in helping design and build the museum. We do our best to cover a variety of Asian countries and how the martial arts played an historical role within each. If you love history and art, you will love the Museum,” adds Matsuda.

The Martial Arts History Museum is the first museum in America devoted to exploring the arts and culture of Asia and their impact on Western civilization through martial artistry. The Museum is open Thursdays through Sundays, from 11 am to 6 pm. The Museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information the public may call (818) 478-1722 or visit MAmuseum.com.