Duke Arts Department gets a gift

Alyssa Hotchkiss
Staff Writer

      Recently Duke University has been gifted $25 million dollars in order to build an arts center on their campus. The building is expected to cost, in total, $50 million dollars.  The facility is planned to take two years to complete and is designed to be 71,000 square feet. The new addition to campus will feature a dance studio along with a dozen multi-use studios, a 200-seat performance theater, a 100-seat film theater, a garden, lounge, library, reception space, a painting and drawing studio, offices and classrooms. "The arts building represents a major step in Duke's commitment to supporting the artistic work of our students and faculty,” said Duke President Richard Brodhead.

​      The $25 million is from David Rubenstein, chairman on the NCDU Board of Trustees. Rubenstein is a big supporter of the arts, being a graduate from Duke. He graduated in 1970 and now is one of the leading art philanthropists and advocates in the country. “Duke has made great progress in recent years in bringing the arts to the same level of excellence we expect in anything that the university does," Rubenstein said in a statement. "I look forward to this new building, and the programs and performances that will take place in it, becoming an essential part of every Duke student's experience."

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