Media Advisory: Oxford College Dedicates Performing Arts Center Friday

 

WHAT:	Dedication of the Hugh and Gena Tarbutton Performing Arts Center of Oxford College
WHEN:	4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12
WHERE	Oxford College green, Hammill St., Oxford, Ga.

The long process of more than 20 years of planning, fundraising and construction has brought the dream of a performing arts center for Oxford College of Emory University to fruition. The Hugh and Gena Tarbutton Performing Art Center will be dedicated at 4 p.m. Friday.

Chairwoman of Oxford College’s board of counselors, Cheryl Fisher Custer, will preside, and Oxford Chaplain Darryl Barrow will give the invocation. Remarks will be made by Emory board of trustees Chairman Ben Johnson, Emory President William M. Chace, Oxford Student Government Association President Euler Bropleh and Oxford Dean Dana Greene. Tours of the facility and refreshments will be available following the ceremony.

Tarbutton, a 1952 Oxford College and 1955 Emory business school graduate, and his wife are long-time supporters of the college. He was elected to Oxford’s board of counselors in 1983 and was named a permanent member of the group in 1999. He is president of Sandersville Railroad Company. They live in Sandersville, Ga. (31082).

Construction began in the fall of 2000 following Oxford’s largest fund-raising drive in history ($6.3 million), and the single largest gift by an alumnus ($1.2 million).

Instead of an entirely new building that would have been twice the cost, the interiors of historic Few Hall and Williams Gym were renovated, and an addition was built onto Few Hall that respects the historical nature of the building, a deciding factor in the choice of architectural firm Surber, Barber, Choate & Hertlein. The renovations included new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems; air conditioning; expansion and enhancement of rehearsal and backstage areas; functional entrances; improved acoustics; and professional lighting and audio-visual equipment. The addition to Few Hall and the theater within are named in honor of the Tarbuttons’ gifts to the performing arts at Oxford.

Oxford College is a small, two-year residential college specializing in the foundations of liberal arts education, and is one of nine divisions of Emory University. The college is located on the university’s original 1836 campus in Oxford, Ga., 38 miles east of the Atlanta campus.

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