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George Mason University has launched a major fundraising campaign to help transform its aging Fairfax performing arts center through a $70 million renovation.

The “Give Voice” initiative aims to secure $35 million in private donations for the Center for the Arts, a 1,935-seat concert hall at 4373 Mason Pond Drive. The university expects to match those contributions with another $35 million.

Plans also call for renaming the venue the Barry Dewberry and Arlene Evans Center for the Arts. Dewberry and Evans jump-started the campaign with a $10 million gift in April 2022.

Other donors have pledged an additional $8 million, bringing the campaign halfway to its private fundraising goal. That includes $6 million from the Peterson Family Foundation through two gifts: $1 million in 2022 for lobby improvements and $5 million announced in April for work on the concert hall.

The lobby and auditorium will become the Peterson Family Lobby and Peterson Auditorium in recognition of those donations.

University President Gregory Washington described the center as a longtime regional cultural hub, a training ground for students and a venue for internationally recognized performances. He said approximately 6.5 million patrons have visited the building since it opened.

A sweeping modernization

The Center for the Arts opened in 1990 and presents professional and student productions spanning classical and popular music, theater, opera and dance. It is also one of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra’s principal concert venues, alongside Capital One Hall in Tysons.

George Mason’s student population has grown to nearly 40,000, increasing the need for a modern facility capable of supporting students and visiting professional artists.

The project is expected to improve the concert hall’s acoustics, accessibility and sightlines. Center aisles would be added to the orchestra and balcony seating levels.

Renovation plans also envision a remodeled lobby with new performance and gallery areas, upgraded cafe and bar service, and reception space for the ticket office.

Additional improvements would include more classrooms, rehearsal rooms and community spaces; expanded restrooms; a second elevator; and a new donor lounge and hospitality area.

Construction schedule remains unsettled

A planning study to determine the project’s final scope and cost is about to begin, so George Mason has not established a firm construction timeline.

Work is expected to last roughly 18 months and would likely begin after a spring semester, allowing crews to take advantage of the summer period when fewer students are on campus.

Performances would move to other locations during construction. Those venues are expected to include the smaller Harris Theatre at 4471 Aquia Creek Lane in Fairfax, which underwent its own renovation in 2022, and the Hylton Performing Arts Center at 10960 George Mason Circle on the university’s Science and Technology Campus in Manassas.

The College of Visual and Performing Arts also plans to work with additional Northern Virginia venues that have not yet been announced.

Dean Rick Davis said the original opening of the Center for the Arts created a defining moment in George Mason’s history. He predicted the renovation would have a similar impact by producing a technology-rich and welcoming home for artists and audiences.

Part of a $1 billion campaign

Give Voice falls under “Mason Now: Power the Possible,” a broader $1 billion capital campaign launched by George Mason in April 2023. The university says that effort will support its goals for the next 50 years, from expanding scholarships and student services to establishing a medical school.

Other Mason Arts priorities include student scholarships and a proposed George Mason Arts District featuring sculpture installations on the Fairfax Campus.

The university is also seeking support to expand facilities for its growing Film and Video Studies and Computer Game Design programs, fund faculty chairs and professorships, develop a concept plan for an art museum, and strengthen the Hylton Performing Arts Center Endowment Fund.

That endowment supports performances and arts education opportunities for the public, veterans and students of all ages.