{"id":187,"date":"2016-02-17T20:03:01","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T01:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/02\/17\/2-million-duke-endowment-grant-will-benefit-furmans-fine-arts-program\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T13:48:34","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T18:48:34","slug":"2-million-duke-endowment-grant-will-benefit-furmans-fine-arts-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2-million-duke-endowment-grant-will-benefit-furmans-fine-arts-program\/","title":{"rendered":"$2 million grant from The Duke Endowment will benefit Furman’s fine arts program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The $2 million grant will support the departments of Art, Music and Theatre Arts.<\/p><\/div>\n

GREENVILLE, S.C.\u2014The Duke Endowment has awarded Furman University a $2 million grant that will enrich the university\u2019s fine arts program and strengthen its ties to the Greenville community in the process.<\/p>\n

The Duke Endowment grant will help fund a new initiative to enhance and expand the university\u2019s programs in music, art and theatre, including a collaborative partnership with the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Greenville.<\/p>\n

The $2 million grant is the largest single gift directed toward the fine arts division programming in Furman\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

According to Furman president Rod Smolla, the Furman Fine Arts Initiative will benefit both Furman students and faculty as well as bring more of the university\u2019s academic and cultural opportunities into the surrounding community.\u00a0 The departments of Art, Music, and Theatre Arts comprise Furman\u2019s fine arts program.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurman has an extraordinary reputation in fine arts education, and The Duke Endowment grant allows us to build on that strength,\u201d Smolla said.\u00a0 \u201cThe new programming and collaboration with a world-class performing arts center will truly enrich our students\u2019 curricular and co-curricular experiences. \u00a0We also expect it will attract more prospective students to our fine arts programs.\u00a0 I\u2019m enormously grateful for the Duke Endowment\u2019s recognition of the project\u2019s potential and for the faculty at Furman who will develop and nurture these programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minor Shaw, a Trustee of The Duke Endowment and chair of the Endowment\u2019s Committee on Educational Institutions, said the grant is an affirmation of president Smolla\u2019s strategic direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Duke Endowment is pleased to support these efforts to create new opportunities for students and faculty, and to help the university strengthen its ties to the Greenville community,\u201d she said. \u201cThrough this Fine Arts initiative, we believe the Furman experience will become even richer.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Furman\u2019s collaboration with the Peace Center is still in the planning stages, Furman officials expect all three fine arts departments to have a significant presence there.\u00a0 Opportunities include select Furman performances and art exhibits at Peace Center venues, master classes with visiting Peace Center artists, student internships, arts administration training and development, and educational outreach programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will also look into the possibility of a dedicated Furman venue at the Peace Center where we could host an array of university events that would appeal to the community,\u201d said John Beckford, vice president for academic affairs and dean.\u00a0 \u201cWe are anxious to get to work and get the fine arts initiative underway.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Smolla said, \u201cFurman\u2019s core mission is to not only strengthen its academic program, but to participate in the life of the communities that surround it. \u00a0A vibrant partnership with the Peace Center perfectly aligns these values.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Duke Endowment, a private foundation in Charlotte, N.C., seeks to enrich lives and communities in North Carolina and South Carolina through its work with children, health care, higher education and rural churches.\u00a0 Since its founding in 1924, the Endowment has awarded more than $2.8 billion in grants<\/p>\n

Furman is one of four educational institutions that receive annual financial support from the Endowment.\u00a0 The others are Davidson College, Duke University and Johnson C. Smith University.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact Furman\u2019s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.\u00a0 The website for the Peace Center for the Performing Arts can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Duke Endowment has awarded Furman a $2 million grant that will help fund a new initiative to enhance and expand the university\u2019s programs in music, art and theatre, including a collaborative partnership with the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Greenville. The $2 million grant is the largest single gift directed toward the fine arts division programming in Furman\u2019s history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,45,39,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-art","category-music","category-theatre-arts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}