Carleton College has announced that it is renaming its new Arts Union facility, scheduled to open September 2011, as the Weitz Center for Creativity.

The renaming of the project, currently under way at the site of the former Northfield Middle School, reflects the contributions made by the family of Wally (’70) and Barbara (’70) Weitz, their children Katie (’96), Roger (’99), and Drew (’02), and their spouses Watie White (’93), Kate, and Meredith (’02) of $15 million towards the completion of the facility. The Weitz family is the largest single donor in College history at $25 million, as they also gave $10 million to launch Carleton’s Breaking Barriers, Creating Connections $300 million campaign, successfully completed this past June. Barbara and Wally served as the campaign’s co-chairs, and Wally has been a member of Carleton’s Board of Trustees since 2000. 

“While the Arts Union name accurately described our programmatic ideas as the project progressed, the name ‘Weitz Center for Creativity’ reflects even better the range of academic offerings and interdisciplinary opportunities ultimately planned for the building,” Carleton President Steven G. Poskanzer said. “This name captures the excitement and innovative spirit we expect will emanate from the Center and throughout campus.

“I am immensely pleased that the Weitz family has allowed us to honor them in this way so that generations of Carleton students will come to know of their generosity,” Poskanzer added.

“Our family has watched with great enthusiasm as the Arts Union project has evolved,” said Wally, on behalf of the Weitz family. “Carleton students deserve a place like this -- a first-class facility to enhance creativity across academic disciplines. Having our name on this building is a true honor for our family. We hope students will have a great time playing and learning there.”

The Weitz Center will house the departments of theater and dance, and cinema and media studies (CAMS). The Carleton Art Gallery, conceived as a teaching museum and gallery, will also be part of the facility. The Weitz Center will also include a dramatic theater, a cinema theater, dance studios, an audio recording studio, the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching, a number of faculty offices, many classrooms that can be used by any of the College’s disciplines, art studios, a large meeting and conference room, and a coffee shop and gathering space. The building will also be home to the presentation events and production support (PEPS) office and the Idea Lab, a shared, interdisciplinary laboratory for exploring and learning with digital resources and technologies, especially those that involve imagery, video, and audio.

The facility will open in fall 2011. To learn more about the Weitz Center, visit the Weitz Center website.