About
The Dr. Jeff Kryka and Dr. Eros Zhao Foundation (The JKEZ Foundation), established in 2024, is dedicated to supporting arts and music education. Our mission is to nurture the next generation of artists by providing financial assistance, mentorship, and collaborative opportunities.
As proud alumni of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), we work closely with the university to support its arts and music students. Through annual scholarships and internships, we help aspiring artists and musicians access the resources and guidance they need to grow and explore their creative passions.
Our foundation also champions Pacific Serenades, a renowned chamber music series founded in 1982 by UCLA professor Mark Carlson. Over the past four decades, Pacific Serenades has commissioned and premiered over 113 new works, bringing composers and professional musicians together to create transformative musical experiences for audiences across Los Angeles.
Beyond UCLA and Pacific Serenades, we are deeply committed to public engagement in the arts. We collaborate with museums to sponsor exhibitions, organize concert performances, and create opportunities for the public to interact with both contemporary and historic art.
Art has the power to move, transform, and unite us—but it needs support to flourish. By investing in artists and musicians, we are ensuring a future where creativity continues to inspire and enrich our world for generations to come.
Dr. Jeff Kryka
Class of 2008 M.A. and 2011 Ph.D.
Music Composition
Los Angeles-based composer, orchestrator, and conductor Jeff Kryka has been awarded by Turner Classic Movies, ASCAP, the RMALA, and the Henry Mancini Foundation. His work has been featured in major motion pictures, TV series, video games, and heard in concert halls around the world. Projects he's contributed to have earned over $23 billion, with 10 films exceeding $1 billion at the global box office.
Originally from Rochester, MN, Kryka studied music composition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with composers Laura Schwendinger, Stephen Dembski, and Joel Naumann, receiving his undergraduate degree in 2006. He did graduate study at the University of California-Los Angeles with composers Paul Chihara, Roger Bourland, Ian Krouse, and David Lefkowitz, receiving his masters degree in 2008, and his Ph.D. in 2011. At UCLA he also studied film music with composers Charles Fox, Laura Karpman, and orchestration with Bruce Broughton.
He has taught music theory, ear training, and composition at UCLA and the Colburn Conservatory of Music, and he is the Chair of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Alumni Board.
He is a Steinway Artist.
Dr. Eros Zhao
Class of 2016 M.A.
East Asian Studies
Dr. Eros Zhao is an artist, scholar, collector, producer and documentary director.
He received his Ph.D. in Art Administration from Shih Chien University in Taiwan, his M.A. in Art History from UCLA, his M.F.A. in Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his B.A. from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China, with a major in Chinese Painting.
Dr. Zhao has served as a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His projects have involved renowned organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution, LACMA, The Magic Castle, Steinway & Sons Piano and among others. He has worked as Special Exhibition Curator at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and as Exhibition Consultant at the Denver Art Museum. His publications include the Chinese translation edition of Studies in Connoisseurship: Chinese Paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections in New York, Princeton, and Washington, D.C. (original by Marilyn and Shen Fu, Princeton University Press, 1973).
Dr. Zhao directed the documentary In Our Hands for the Smithsonian Channel in 2023. His film work has received critical acclaim, including the Oscar-qualified film Amal | Hope, which won the Best Documentary Short award at the 2025 Bali International Film Festival; The Action Man earned a nomination for Best Documentary Short at the 2024 Austin Film Festival, and garnered multiple awards from prestigious international festivals.
In 2025, Dr. Zhao assumed the role as CEO of the JAVCA Foundation. With this position, he supports a wide array of programs in the arts and music, including initiatives such as the Commission of the National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture, the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies, the Denver Art Museum, and other academic pursuits.