The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies and the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art in one energizing complex.

Since opening in 1991, the Lenfest Center has helped the University provide the fine arts component of an exceptional liberal arts education. Housing over 175 performances and events each year and hosting over 30,000 patrons, the center has become the region's performing arts center. Countless rehearsals and an ongoing schedule of classes make the Lenfest Center a lively and dynamic educational facility.

The history of the university's long relationship to the arts dates back to its most illustrious early donor and first namesake, George Washington. In making an important gift to the struggling school in 1796, the First President noted, "To promote literature in this rising empire, and to encourage the arts, have ever been amongst the warmest wishes of my heart. And if the donation is likely to prove a means to accomplish these ends, it will contribute to the gratification of my desires."