CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - The University of Virginia has announced plans for a new performing arts center funded by a $50 million donation.
University President Jim Ryan announced Friday that the gift is being made by Tessa Ader. The news release said the new center for dance, concerts, theater and other performances will be in the area known as the Emmet-Ivy corridor.
“My late husband, Richard, and I long felt that a state-of-the-art performing arts center was needed by the University of Virginia,” Ader said in a statement to The Daily Progress. “I believe this new facility will be a wonderful asset to our community and am hopeful my gift will encourage others to come forward as well to make it a reality.”
While designs haven't been completed, the university said the center will include a concert hall with more than 1,000 seats, a 150-seat recital hall and rehearsal studios. The center will also host national touring artists.
"The performing arts center will be a place that celebrates the arts as fundamental to the human condition, a university education and a democratic society,” Ryan said in the news release.
