The University of Virginia has announced a $50 million gift from Tessa Ader, a longtime supporter of the arts in Charlottesville and at the university, to build a performing-arts center that will include a concert hall with more than 1,150 seats, a 150-seat recital hall, an experimental performance space and rehearsal studios.
“My late husband, Richard, and I long felt that a state-of-the-art performing arts center was needed by the University of Virginia,” Ader said in a statement issued with the announcement of her gift. “I believe this new facility will be a wonderful asset to our community and am hopeful my gift will encourage others to come forward as well to make it a reality.”
“This is an extraordinary gift. It is, to my knowledge, the largest gift by far to the arts at the University of Virginia,” Jody Kielbasa, UVa’s vice provost for the arts and director of the Virginia Film Festival, told Bryan McKenzie of The Daily Progress:
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