Lauren Bon is an Annenberg family member and self-styled “environmental artist.” ¹ Along with her brothers Gregory and Charles Annenberg, she is an heir to the Annenberg family fortune and vice president of the Annenberg Foundation. ² The foundation, with $1.4 billion in assets, was the 50^th largest foundation in the United States as of 2018. ³

Annenberg Foundation

The Annenberg Family Foundation is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that has supported environmentalist organizations, animal liberation groups, and organizations that engage in race-focused social policy. ⁴ In 2019, the Annenberg Foundation paid Lauren Bon $75,898 in compensation and $38,457 in benefits. ⁵

Early Life

Lauren Bon was born in 1962 in New Haven, Connecticut. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University and a Master of Architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ⁶

In 2004, Lauren Bon contributed $2,000 to the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). ⁷

Art Projects

In 2005 Lauren Bon undertook a $3 million art project that transformed 32 acres of brownfield land in downtown Los Angeles into a cornfield, ⁸ which served as a “living sculpture.” ⁹

The cornfield operated for one agricultural cycle, ¹⁰ and was funded by the Annenberg Foundation. ¹¹

1. “Lauren Bon.” laurenbon.art https://laurenbon.art/
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3. “The largest foundations.” Pensions & Investments. November 12, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.pionline.com/article/20181112/ONLINE/181109876/the-largest-foundations
4. Annenberg Foundation. Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF). 2019. Part XV, line 3.
5. Annenberg Foundation. Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF). 2019. Part VIII, line 1..
6. “Lauren Bon.” Recontres-Arles. https://www.rencontres-arles.com/en/artistes/view/432/lauren-bon
7. “Lauren Bon.” Federal Election Commission. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Lauren+Bon&contributor_employer=Annenberg
8. Hernandez, Daniel. “‘Not a Cornfield’ Idea is Food for Thought.” Los Angeles Times. September 12, 2005. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-sep-12-me-corn12-story.html
9. “Mission.” Notacornfield.com http://notacornfield.com/mission.html
10. “Not a Cornfield.” Metabolic Studio. https://www.metabolicstudio.org/tags/not-a-cornfield
11. Hernandez, Daniel. “‘Not a Cornfield’ Idea is Food for Thought.” Los Angeles Times. September 12, 2005. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-sep-12-me-corn12-story.html