Lenfest Center Mission

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 185 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.

MISSION
The mission of the Lenfest Center for the Arts at Washington and Lee University is to enrich the education of our students and the surrounding community through a dynamic engagement with the arts, helping them to gain new perspectives on their relationships with their neighbors and their place in the world.

VISION
We are committed to fostering a dynamic educational environment where the arts can coexist, thrive and collaborate. By bringing in student, professional, and community groups into our venues and working with them to enhance their productions, we hope to create long-term patrons of the arts informed global citizens.

VALUES
Through artistic exploration and expression, we empower our students to make meaningful contributions to their communities and the broader world. We believe that exposure to and participation in the arts is essential to developing well-rounded individuals. Aligned with the mission of Washington and Lee University, the Lenfest Center strives to cultivate an appreciation for the arts that encourages students to think freely, critically, and humanely.

GOALS
Our goals include, integrating arts management, technology and professional arts groups into our curriculum offers unique, hands-on experiences that enhance our students' academic pursuits, creative expressions and ultimately make them better aware and informed citizens.

The compounding of such activities creates a rich, multi-layered and significant body of presentations. Notable features of each of these areas of activity are as follows:

University Presentations-Academic

University presentations per se provide the foundation for the Lenfest Center's artistic profile.

The Lenfest Center provides a distinctive and elegant home for presentations by the academic components of the University community. On a regular basis, the Department of Theater, Dance and Film Studies presents from four to eight productions annually, directed by both faculty and students; the University Wind Ensemble and the University Orchestra rehearse and perform in the Wilson Hall Concert Hall; student composers give recitals; the University Singers, Men's Gee Club and Cantatrici appear regularly in concert.

A number of additional academic and non-academic programs at the University, such as the Alumni College, University Development and the Alumni Association have selected the Lenfest Center as the site for various presentations and lectures. The Center has also been chosen for numerous ceremonial events by different University organizations.

University Presentations-Professional

The Lenfest Season: The Lenfest Center for the Arts annually presents the Lenfest Season. These performances are designed to enrich the community's cultural life by presenting outstanding professional performing arts attractions, featuring broad-ranging repertoire at affordable ticket prices. In addition, it is the goal of the Lenfest Center to create artists-in-residence programs to enrich student life. The performances are made possible by contributors who established the Lenfest Endowment as part of the Lenfest Center's capital campaign and the Washington & Lee Class of 1964 Performance Fund.

The Concert Guild: The Concert Guild sponsors an annual series that brings to the university noted national and international performers and performing groups in the areas of classical chamber music. Like the events featured in the Lenfest Center, the solo and ensemble performers sponsored by the Concert Guild are of a superior quality that would be impossible to present on a regular basis without such special funding.

Outside Presentations: The Lenfest Center is recognized in the regional arts community as a superior space for performance activity. As such, numerous organizations have chosen to rent the professional services of the Center for their events. Some of these organizations include Fine Arts in Rockbridge (FAIR), Rockbridge and Shenandoah Ballet and Halestone Dance Studio.