This aerial photograph shows progress on the arts complex construction site as of mid March 2015. (Photo by Aerial Photos of New Jersey)
A Princeton University alumnus and his wife have anonymously donated $10 million for the 23,000-square-foot music building in the new arts complex currently under construction, university officials said Monday.
While the identity of the donors is currently being withheld at the request of the couple, the music building will eventually be named for the donors, the university said.
“This splendid gift will benefit our student musicians and the audiences who come to hear them,” President Christopher L. Eisgruber said in a statement. “The additional space is an essential element in enabling our arts initiative — launched less than a decade ago — to flourish. We are excited about seeing the arts at Princeton reach their full potential, and we are grateful to our generous alumni and friends for helping to make it possible.”
The music building at the $330 million arts and transit project will be home to the university’s Department of Music and the Lewis Center for the Arts. The building will “meet the urgent need for space and bring student musicians — and the music they create — to the south edge of the campus,” according to the university’s announcement.
The three-story building will include a performance and rehearsal space, acoustically advanced practice rooms and teaching studios, and a digital recording studio. Also under construction at the site are the Wallace Dance Building and Theater, and a Tower that will house faculty and administrative offices and an art gallery.
The anonymous donor was quoted in the announcement saying: “When my wife and I visited campus and witnessed the engagement, curiosity and passion of so many students in so many areas of arts study, the decision to be a part of the team in promoting the arts at Princeton was an easy one.”
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