Armstrong International Cultural Foundation is a non-profit, humanitarian organization sponsored by the Philadelphia Church of God, headquartered on the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus in Edmond, Okla.

The foundation's concert series is patterned after the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation's concert series, which brought excellence in the performing arts to the Los Angeles, Calif., area by showcasing the greatest performers from all over the world during the 1970s and '80s—artists such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Vladimir Horowitz and many other musical legends. These concerts were performed in the breathtaking Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, built in 1974. Concertgoers and performers alike praised its acoustical perfection and warm, intimate atmosphere.

Ambassador's humanitarian activities also stretched far elsewhere: from Bombay to Brussels, the Philippines to the Netherlands, Tokyo to Cairo. There were projects in Jerusalem, Jordan, London, Nepal and Okinawa.

Its founder and builder, Herbert W. Armstrong, died in 1986, leaving a great legacy behind in many areas. World leaders knew him as an unofficial ambassador for world peace. He was also a great educator, establishing three colleges during his long lifetime—one of which was home to Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. Mr. Armstrong was the founder of the Worldwide Church of God, the Plain Truth magazine and the World Tomorrow television program.

After he died, the church he founded—which sponsored all the magazines, the television programs, the colleges and the foundation—wanted nothing to do with Mr. Armstrong or the legacies he left behind. Eventually, the foundation was discontinued; the concert series ceased. Mr. Armstrong had spent $2.5 million a year to attract the finest artists in the world, and with the financial demise of the Worldwide Church of God throughout the early '90s, church officials, in January 1995, said they no longer had the money to subsidize the arts. Ambassador's humanitarian projects around the world were stopped as well. More information about the fight to revive Mr. Armstrong's legacy can be found in our 2006 book Raising the Ruins.

The Philadelphia Church of God broke away from the Worldwide Church of God in 1989 to keep Mr. Armstrong's legacy alive.

In 1998, Armstrong International Cultural Foundation (then the Philadelphia Foundation) began a small concert series in hopes that it would one day grow to be a grand series in Mr. Armstrong's tradition—supporting the arts by giving monumental cultural experiences to the area.

Then in 2001, after purchasing 160 acres just north of Edmond city limits, the Philadelphia Church of God opened the doors of its own small, private liberal arts institution, named after the philanthropist and educator who's legacy inspired it all—Herbert W. Armstrong College (HWAC). In addition to being an educational environment—the college campus, as it was under Mr. Armstrong's administration, is home to all the cultural activities of the Foundation.

In July 2004, the Foundation even obtained some of the very treasures that were considered the crown jewels of Ambassador Auditorium: a 9-foot Hamburg Steinway concert-grand piano and two Baccarat crystal candelabra commissioned by the Shah of Iran to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. To house these priceless artifacts, the Foundation has begun planning stages for a new auditorium—a beautiful concert hall modeled after Ambassador.