The University of Arkansas has announced a $30 million challenge grant from the Windgate Foundation in support of the School of Art and its Windgate Art and Design District.

The commitment is in addition to a $40 million gift the foundation made in 2017 to launch the Windgate Art and Design District project and establish the site for the project's first phase — the Windgate Studio and Design Center, which will open in the fall of 2022 in south Fayetteville and house the studio art program areas in ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, and printmaking and its MFA and BFA studios, as well as the graphic design program and its new graduate MDES degree. The challenge grant, which requires the university to raise a minimum of $7 million in matching funds, will fund the second phase of the project. The university aims to raise at least $15 million in qualified gifts and pledges.

The project's second phase will see construction of the 58,000-square-foot Windgate Gallery and Foundations Building, which will house the school's public galleries, the foundation program, Idea Fabrication Lab, Arts & Entrepreneurship Workshop, a 250-seat auditorium, and faculty and visiting artist studios.

"We must ensure that our graduates will be creative thinkers, leaders, and problem solvers who will be an innovative and driving force in our state economy through their art and design," said Todd Shields, dean of the U of A's Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. "The Windgate Foundation's longstanding relationship with the U of A is making sure this vision will become our reality."

(Photo credit: University of Arkansas)