With two years to go until completion and a $275 million capital, the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts has received 105 gifts of $1 million or more, and the money is still coming in. With more than $252 million raised thus far from mostly private donations, the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts and its record-breaking amount of $1 million gifts is unprecedented in U.S. history for an arts or cultural organization.

Many of the families who have helped raise the initial capital continue to sponsor the construction of the arts center, which will host resident companies in music, opera, theatre and dance. The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts marks the most ambitious arts building project in the U.S. since New York's Lincoln Center in the early 1960's.

Bill Lively, president and CEO of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, said in a statement, "We developed the concept and goal of the campaign to build the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts based on our perceptions of the generosity of the Dallas community. We believed that if we explained the concept for a world-class performing arts center and the impact the Center will have on Dallas and the region for the next century, the people in this community would support this project in unprecedented ways. How gratifying it is to report that, with only two years remaining until the Center's grand opening, 100 Dallas families and organizations have made gifts of $1 million and more to help build the Center, an achievement that is a testament to the credibility of the project and the remarkable generosity of the community."

Among the arts companies slated for residence at the Dallas Center for the Performing arts are the Dallas Opera, Dallas Theatre Center, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Texas Ballet Theatre and the Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico.

While the actual scheduling and complete logistics of the center are being worked out, it is also the center's intention to host Broadway touring productions as well as lectures, films and various arts programs. Covering over ten acres, The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will also provide the city with its first public park. The venue, designed by world-renowned architects, will host a 2,200-seat opera house, a 600-seat modular theatre capable of accommodating thrust, arena and proscenium design, an outdoor entertainment venue, as well as a 750-seat performance hall for many of Dallas' local performing arts organizations. The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will also feature large rehearsal spaces, artist's suites and studios, as well as cafes and restaurants.

Further information, as well as artist renderings of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, is available by visiting www.dallasperformingarts.org.