Dallas Center For The Performing Arts Has Fund-Raising Gala

By: Joseph Melnicoff Nov. 07, 2006

On October 25, 2006, the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts presented a signature fund-raising gala, ACT TWO, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Over 1,300 guests attended the black-tie event. Mistress of Ceremonies Dame Julie Andrews gave a warm welcome to the crowd and announced that over $1.5 million had been raised from this event. Dame Andrews further elaborated that the evening was in celebration of the beginning of construction for the Center's Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House and the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre. She concluded her introduction by informing the audience that the campaign to build the Center had raised $221 million to date.

Dame Andrews then introduced Sir Elton John. Elton John gave a stunning ninety-minute performance which included such favorites as "Honky Cat," "Philadelphia Freedom," "Rocket Man," "Candle in the Wind," "I Guess That's Why They Call it The Blues," and "Crocodile Rock." His encore was "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." Following the performance there was a dinner in the Meyerson Lobby.

The campaign to build the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts is a nine-year project comprised of three three-year phases. The final phase began on August 1, 2006. The campaign's first three-year phase was committed to planning the project, raising leadership gifts to ensure its early success and appointing renowned architects and specialists to design the Center's venues. The second phase was dedicated to designing the venues, increasing funding to 75 percent of the project's total cost. In addition, long-term contracts were executed with the City of Dallas affirming ways the Center will be governed, operated, managed, maintained and supported from the time of its opening.

The goals of the campaign's final three-year phase are to complete construction, raise the remaining funds required to construct the Center and implement the Center's business plan. The Center's underground garage is now under construction.Construction of the Center's new

Annette Strauss Artist Square

and GrandPlaza will start in 2008, with the long-anticipated grand opening being planned for the fall of 2009.

For more information on the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts and upcoming events, please visit their website.

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