Click here for the Dean's letter in PDF form from IUMusic Magazine
Dear Friends,
A little more than two years
ago, the Jacobs School of Music had the enormous pleasure of accepting a gift that has transformed the study of music at Indiana University.
I can still remember the excitement and energy we all felt at the Musical Arts Center on November 17, 2005, when the school was reintroduced to the global music community as the Indiana University JACOBS School of Music. With a renewed spirit and a world of opportunities within our grasp, there was no denying that this was a new beginning, a transformational moment.
The naming gift of $40.6 million from the late David H. and Barbara B. Jacobs—the largest single gift for a school of music at a public university—has ensured that we continue to be one of the world’s premier music schools. Through its support of new undergraduate scholarships and endowed faculty positions, it has also allowed us to enhance our proud tradition of leading the world in the education of musicians and dancers in performance, pedagogy, and research.
Today, I am pleased to announce another remarkable development for our school. We are thrilled and honored that the Lilly Endowment, one of the foremost supporters of education and community development in Indiana, has awarded us a gift of $44 million to fund completely the construction of a new state-of-the-art faculty studio building.
The Jacobs School of Music North Studio Building will offer our world-class faculty members and talented students a technologically and acoustically superior environment for teaching, research and creative activity. The facility will rival that of any university or conservatory in the world. It will enhance collaboration among our students and faculty. It will allow us to continue to entice the best artists, scholars, and composers to Bloomington. It will secure the school’s preeminence, both now and into the future.
>Just as the university’s leading scientists require excellent laboratories, our music faculty require excellent studios to conduct their research, teach classes, work individually with students, and sharpen their own skills.
They are the best. And they deserve the best.
For more than four decades, our Music Annex, known as the “round building,” has performed yeoman’s service as the primary practice facility for students and main studio space for faculty. But, as our school has grown and our logistical and technological needs have increased, space has become an impediment for us to move forward in pursuit of our goals and aspirations. Now, with this momentous gift from the Lilly Endowment, there are no longer any barriers to our school providing our faculty and students with the kind of nurturing environment they need.
Our deepest thanks go to the Lilly Endowment and a number of individuals who have enabled and inspired this gift. They include Thomas M. Lofton, Chairman of the Lilly Endowment; Michael A. McRobbie, President of Indiana University; and Curtis R. Simic, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Indiana University Foundation. Without them and the many others involved in planning, facilitating, and communicating on our behalf, the gift would not have been possible.
The Jacobs School plans to have the North Studio Building constructed and ready for use as the school prepares for its second century. When completed, it will be home to a remarkable faculty, a pedagogical center for the talented students they attract, and a beacon to our alumni of the progress being made at their alma mater.
With the Lilly Endowment’s exceptional gift, we will have built our own future.
Sincerely,
Gwyn Richards
Dean
>> Click here for the IU News Room press release
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