UK will use $150M donation from Gatton Foundation to build on-campus arts district
The largest donation in the University of Kentucky’s history will be used to create a new arts district on campus, officials announced Tuesday.
A $150 million donation from the Bill Gatton Foundation will be used to build “a state-of-the-art arts district” for the College of Fine Arts, UK President Eli Capilouto announced at a board of trustees meeting. Included in the area will be theaters, recital halls, practice venues, an outdoor pavilion and more.
It will bring music, theater and dance programs under one roof for the first time in the university’s history.
“This is going to be a place to gather, a place to inspire,” Capilouto said. “This creates a vibrant district of connection that we know is going to further foster creativity.”
The arts district will be located near the Gray Design Building, which was renovated in 2024, at the intersection of Broadway and Bolivar Street, near the former location of Tolly-Ho, according to materials from the board meeting. It will include a 170,000-square-foot Arts and Innovation Complex for the College of Fine Arts, as well as outdoor space.
The donation tops the university’s previous largest — also from the Gatton Foundation — of $100 million to the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment in 2023.
“This gift will realize a vision to create an arts district on the western edge of our campus,” Capilouto said. “There, we can integrate art into an area of Lexington that is an increasingly vibrant and vital intersection of campus and city, town and gown.”
Gatton, a 1954 UK graduate and former trustee for the university, died in April 2022. He was a longtime donor to UK and the largest single donor to the university, giving $200 million in his lifetime and through his foundation. The Gatton Student Center, Gatton College of Business and Economics and the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment are all named in his and his family’s honor.
Construction will require legislative authorization to issue bonds, UK said. Capilouto said the university has begun discussions with state leaders about the project.
“This $150 million gift — the largest in UK’s history — will help not only the university but also Lexington and Kentucky, as it creates a vibrant, welcoming arts district for students, Kentuckians and visitors to enjoy,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news release. “Education and the arts fuel our economy and our workforce, and investments like these are how we keep working to build a bright future for generations.”
Growth and develop on UK’s campus
College of Fine Arts Dean Mark Shanda said the new facilities and technology will be key for educating and recruiting students, and what the university can offer the community.
“This facility will just rocket us forward in terms of attraction for students in the Commonwealth, and ties into the work development efforts of the Commonwealth, and in terms of the film industry and the audio industry,” he said.
The university has undergone a slate of renovations and new buildings in recent years, including updates to Kroger Field, a new basketball practice facility and a new health education building.
There’s also been an expansion of student housing options, as enrollment continues to grow. On campus, an $81 million project is in the works, which would add a new dorm on south campus behind Ingels, Baldwin and Smith halls.
But demand for housing is so great developers are planning multiple off-campus, privately owned apartment buildings in Lexington for students. The most recent proposal, which would have created an eight-story student apartment building on East Maxwell Street, was denied by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council in November.
Residents in the area — which contains several older multi-apartment buildings and homes that would have been demolished — said they have been overrun with privately owned student housing in recent years.
Two other student housing complexes were approved in the East Maxwell area earlier this year.
This story was originally published December 2, 2025 at 2:23 PM.