This! But uptown

That was quick! From within the blushing blue Low earlier tonight, PrezBo announced that the recent recipient of the Alexander Hamilton Medal, H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest (LW ’58), has pledged to donate $30 million to a new “multidisciplinary arts venue” in the now ever-growing Manhattanville campus (no wonder he received the award!). The new Lenfest Center for the Arts will feature an art gallery, film screening room, and performance space, all designed by the renowned Italian architect Rezno Piano, One of the master designers behind the Manhattanville campus, Piano also dreamed up the NYTimes skycraper just downtown. PrezBo’s full announcement below.

Dear Fellow Member of the Columbia Community:

I am pleased to announce that University Trustee H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest (LW ’58) has pledged $30 million to help build a multidisciplinary arts venue on the Manhattanville campus. I announced the gift at this evening’s Alexander Hamilton Medal dinner, where the Columbia College Alumni Association honored Mr. Lenfest with the College’s highest award.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts will play a central role in the development of the Manhattanville campus and in the life of the University. This six-floor facility to be designed by Renzo Piano will be more than a beautiful building containing an art gallery, a film screening room, and a performance space: it will serve as a hub for the creation of new work and the refinement of works in progress across various media, featuring exhibitions, theatrical performances, symposia, and lectures that present new artistic voices and perspectives from around the globe. Under the direction of Carol Becker, dean of the School of the Arts, these programs will produce a rich variety of innovative collaborations with other Columbia schools and departments. The resources made available by the center also will strengthen Columbia’s longstanding ties to the vibrant local arts community based in Harlem, generating partnerships with talented artists in northern Manhattan and throughout New York City.

It is fitting that this new facility, which embraces many of Columbia’s current initiatives while also celebrating our ties to a proud history of artistic creativity, is made possible by a gift from Gerry Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite. The Lenfests’ generosity to Columbia University has been remarkable, including the endowment of faculty chairs in the Arts and Sciences, the endowment of professorships in the Core Curriculum and at the Law School, support for the Columbia University Earth Institute and the Medical Center, and creation of the Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards.

Through their commitment to higher education and to Columbia, the Lenfests have deeply and positively affected the lives of countless undergraduate and graduate students and helped sustain the work of many of our faculty. Now we are fortunate to be able to look forward to the opening of the Lenfest Center for the Arts, a facility promising to be a great showcase for the creativity of students, faculty and guest artists, as well as a welcoming venue for Columbia’s large artistic community and many others beyond our campus.

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger

Not actually the design via Wikipedia