News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: July 8, 1999
Contact: Nancy Seideman, Assistant Director

EMORY RECEIVES $8 MILLION GIFT TO NAME NEW PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FOR ALUMNA AND HER FAMILY

Emory University will name its new performing arts center, scheduled to begin construction next summer, for alumna Donna Schwartz and her husband, Marvin. The Schwartzes have donated $8 million toward the new facility - - the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts - - which will bring together the university's music, theater and dance programs in a space dedicated to the arts.

Emory President William M. Chace said, "This generous gift will enable the university to establish a world-class performing arts center to nurture artistic development and strengthen education for our students and faculty. We are deeply appreciative to Donna and Marvin Schwartz for their commitment to the performing arts."

The estimated $30 million performing arts center will include a 750-seat concert hall with choral balcony and orchestra pit, a smaller instrumental rehearsal hall, practice and ensemble rooms, a 150-seat lab theater and a 150-seat dance studio. The three-level (two floors above ground), 98,000- square-foot facility will be nestled between the Goizueta Business School and the Fishburne Parking Deck near the intersection of Clifton and North Decatur roads. Groundbreaking for the center will take place in June 2000. The center was designed by Michael Dennis and Associates of Boston, in association with Howard-Montgomery-Steger of New Orleans, and Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart of Atlanta.

Steven Sanderson, dean of Emory College and vice president for arts and sciences, said that the center will be a "laboratory for learning, with the goal of encouraging teaching, research and experimentation. By bringing these activities together under one roof, the arts center will create a vibrant place for students and faculty that will transform the arts at Emory."

Donna Keesler Schwartz, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Emory College in 1962, previously worked in public affairs at Exxon Corp. Marvin Schwartz, a 1962 graduate of Baruch College of the City University of New York, is a principal in the investment management firm Neuberger Berman in New York. Residents of New York City, the Schwartzes have two children, 13-year-old Charles, and Elizabeth Jessie Schwartz, who is a 1997 graduate of Emory College.

The Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts is part of Emory's comprehensive campus master plan, which was unveiled in spring 1997. The plan, which will guide the university's future growth and development, calls for the construction of eight major buildings within the next several years, including a science classroom/ laboratory facility, a new nursing school and a medical research building, all within Emory's current boundaries. A major goal of the plan is to create a pedestrian campus and to replace cars and concrete with green spaces and walkways.