Princeton names Center for the Arts after donor Lewis
Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts launched
Princeton University on Thursday, Nov. 8, named its new arts center the Peter B. Lewis Center
for the Arts in recognition of the $101 million gift Lewis pledged last year to support the
University's major arts initiative.
Events held Thursday as part of the official launch of Princeton's comprehensive fundraising
campaign honored Lewis and his contribution to enhancing the role of the creative and
performing arts on campus and in the community. Lewis' gift is part of the University's efforts to
raise $1.75 billion over the next five years, including a goal of $325 million for exploration in
the arts.
President Shirley M. Tilghman expressed her deep gratitude to Lewis for his gift, saying it will
enable the University to integrate the creative and performing arts into an undergraduate
education that is second to none.
"By naming this center for Peter, we recognize both his extraordinary gift and his conviction that
the arts belong at the center of any great university, where students in all fields have
opportunities not only to study art, but to create it," Tilghman said. "The goal of this center is to
ensure that the arts become a part of every Princeton student's experience and that they play a
greater and more central role in the life of our campus and our community."
Since Princeton announced Lewis' gift in January 2006, the funds already have had a significant
impact on the arts and multidisciplinary programs on campus. The gift has provided financial
resources for five new courses and the faculty to support them in screenwriting, screenplay
adaptation, chamber dance and choreography, film, and theatrical design.
The fund also has supported: special collaborative productions, such as the April 12-14 staging
of "Boris Godunov" between the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art and Princeton
students and faculty in academic departments and performing arts groups across campus; a new
series of lectures and performances by notable artists that launched with a Sept. 23 concert
featuring music by acclaimed composer Michael Friedman, a visiting Hodder Fellow at the
Lewis Center for the Arts; and the creation of a communications office and launch of a new
website to further the mission of the Lewis Center for the Arts.
Faculty have received funding to write and direct films and to research innovative forms of
dance, and a new Junior Summer Fellowship Award has been created to provide grants for
outstanding students in their junior year at Princeton who undertake summer work, internships or
study related to the creative independent work they will complete in their senior years.
"This center brings together two of my great passions -- Princeton, with its constant quest for
excellence, and the arts, which help people to explore their limitless human creativity," said
Lewis, a 1955 alumnus, University trustee and chairman of the board of the Progressive Corp. "I
am very proud to be part of launching this exciting new addition to the life of the University."
Lewis stood before a crowd of University administrators, faculty, staff and students gathered at
185 Nassau St. for a naming celebration Thursday afternoon as he was honored by a series of
gifts that included a portfolio of student and faculty art work. He also received signed copies of
books from Paul Muldoon, Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeffrey Eugenides, James
Richardson, C.K. Williams, Edmund White and other distinguished authors in the center's worldrenowned Program in Creative Writing.
Thursday evening, Lewis was feted at a celebratory dinner on the stage of Richardson
Auditorium in Alexander Hall. The courses were interspersed with performances by student
dancers and musicians and the reading of a poem by Muldoon. The evening concluded with a
rendition of "Old Nassau" by 1981 alumnus and jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan.
"Peter Lewis has recognized that the University as an institution has now taken on the role of
patron of the arts," said Muldoon, Princeton's Howard G.B. Clark '21 University Professor in the
Humanities, professor of creative writing and chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts, thanking
Lewis for his gift. "It's a role we at Princeton embrace enthusiastically, but it's a role we simply
wouldn't be able to envision were it not for the munificence and magnanimity of Peter Lewis
himself."
In his 35 years at the helm of Progressive, Lewis has transformed the firm into the nation's third
largest auto insurance company and introduced consumer conveniences that have influenced the
entire industry. His philanthropy has supported organizations in the arts, sciences, education and
progressive reform. His many gifts to Princeton include funding for the Lewis-Sigler Institute for
Integrative Genomics and the Peter B. Lewis Library, designed by renowned architect Frank
Gehry and scheduled to open in 2008. Lewis' gift in support of Princeton's arts initiative is the
largest single gift to the University in modern history.
A "Celebration of the Arts at Princeton," including remarks by Lewis, Muldoon and Tilghman,
will be held at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, in Richardson Auditorium. The event is free, and doors
open to the general public at 4:45 p.m. The event will feature the Princeton premiere of
"Margaret's Lullaby," an aria from a new opera with a libretto by Toni Morrison, and also will
include performances by Princeton student music, theater and dance groups.
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The Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts is part of a major initiative announced by President
Shirley M. Tilghman in 2006 to fully embrace the arts as an essential part of the educational
experience for all who study and teach at Princeton University. The Peter B. Lewis Center for
the Arts will have a significant impact on the University and the larger community it serves. The
public is welcomed to a full range of lectures, exhibitions, concerts and performances at the
center. Many of the center's events are free or charge a nominal admission fee. For more
information about the Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts, visit www.princeton.edu/arts.