Tim Van Leer, director of the Lied Center, is pictured inside the performing arts center. Kansas University has shelved a plan to expand the Lied Center when fundraising efforts failed to cover the $7.5 million target. The Lied Foundation will use $5 million for a scholarship program instead.
As quickly as it came up, the idea for a major expansion at the Lied Center has been shelved.
Kansas University officials announced in February they would attempt to raise $7.5 million by July 1 to receive a challenge grant worth another $7.5 million to build the expansion.
But they fell well short of the mark, raising only $2 million, and decided not to proceed with fund-raising.
"It's somewhat of a disappointment," said Tim Van Leer, director of the performing arts center. "But we knew going in this would be a significant challenge, that it could take a long time to do and it was coming on the heels of the university's most successful fund-raising drive in history."
The challenge grant would have come from the Lied Foundation of Las Vegas, which donated $10 million to build the existing Lied Center.
The expansion would have created an 800-seat auditorium to provide a more intimate setting for chamber music, lectures and School of Fine Arts performances than does the current 2,000-seat auditorium. The expansion also would have included a 9,000-square-foot art gallery, outdoor sculpture garden and an education center.
Instead of donating the $7.5 million for the Lied Center, the Lied Foundation will donate $5 million to a scholarship program. The details of the scholarships haven't been worked out.
"We all realized it was an aggressive time frame," said Dale Seuferling, president of the KU Endowment Association. "It's a significant sum, and it proved too much to raise for this project."
Van Leer said he wouldn't rule out an expansion in the future, though he doesn't plan fundraising any time soon.
"I don't think we'd ever scrap it entirely," he said. "It's something we'll always keep around, if we find a donor."
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