Duke University Receives $25 Million Gift to Support New Arts Building

Graham Bowley reports in the New York Times that the philanthropist and business magnate David M. Rubenstein will give $25 million to his alma mater, Duke University, to fund arts programming and a new building on campus. Rubenstein, who has been chairman of the board at Duke since 2013, is a founder of the private equity firm Carlyle Group. Previous gifts he has made to Duke supported the Sanford School of Public Policy, athletics, libraries, and fellowship and faculty programs.

Duke has stated that the gift “will help create and sustain programs, activities and performances across the range of performing and visual arts at Duke.”

The new 71,000-square-foot arts building for instance, at a projected cost of $50 million, will include a dance studio, a theater for performances and an additional one for film, as well as classrooms and other facilities. Additional financing for the building is to come from the university and other private donors.