Amid tuxedos, live piano music, brilliant lights and displays of both the performing and visual arts, the Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center was officially opened on Thursday night at the President's Circle Dinner.
An estimated 900 benefactors, alumni, artists and friends and family of the Katzens attended the center's first big gala. Other guests included the Israeli ambassador and Congressman Tom Davis, R-Va., who helped Dr. Cyrus Katzen secure the land for the center amid neighborhood opposition. Katzen invited his personal friend and former AU president Benjamin Ladner, who donated $20 million to the arts center, but Ladner chose not to attend the opening, according to The Washington Post.
When asked what he thought of the building, Katzen, a graduate of Georgetown University, said jokingly, "Tear the place down!"
Katzen spoke with enthusiasm about how much he loves the building and what a great asset it is for students. He recently saw people touring the center and heard a high school girl say she decided she wanted to attend AU because of the new arts center, he said. "That's what it's all about."
Kay Mussell, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, praised the Katzens for their six-year plan to build the arts center.
"The Katzens are wonderful, generous people who love the arts. We've never had such wonderful facilities," she said.
A dedication ceremony was conducted inside the center's main rotunda where guests sat at tables set with fresh rose centerpieces. Dinner included corn-crusted snapper and pineapple and sun-dried tomato chutney.
The AU chamber singers performed between speeches. Four members of AU's performing arts department danced as they brought out a blue ribbon with silver stars for Myrtle Katzen to cut. The event was broadcast on several flat-screen TVs throughout the building.
"The building is a physical manifestation of the school's commitment to excellence," said acting President Neil Kerwin after the ceremony. "It shows our unmistakable presence in and commitment to the community of Washington. ... AU will fill the spaces with talent, wisdom, creativity and enlightenment."
Kerwin told guests that AU was recently selected by the National Endowment for the Arts to host their 40th anniversary conference about the impact of the national endowment on the U.S.
"Katzen epitomizes two things: exceptional teaching by people active and influential in their fields and wise philanthropy," Kerwin said. "Enlightened philanthropy is with us tonight in the Katzens."
The next event at the Katzen is a tribute to AU professor Frank Turaj. The program is a literature reading given by Ann Beattie, author of the novel "Follies" and a 1969 graduate of AU.
Construction on the arts center was completed last spring and students began attending classes there this fall. The AU Chamber Singers will be performing at Katzen in November. Also in Katzen are many exhibits of art by AU students and alumni including a series of sculptures in the center's rotunda.
