Longtime Supporters Give Colorado State University $500,000 for University Center for the Arts

Colorado State University President Albert C. Yates today announced a $500,000 gift from Bob and Joyce Everitt, longtime Colorado State University benefactors. The gift is for the University Center for the Arts Campaign, which will help transform the historic Fort Collins High School into a state-of-the-art performing and creative arts center.

Yates announced the gift at the annual State of the University Luncheon with area service clubs Jan. 24, hosted by the Fort Collins Rotary.

"Bob and Joyce have been great CSU supporters for many years," Yates said. "This latest gift is yet another example of their extraordinary generosity and commitment to the Fort Collins community."

Bob Everitt, whose Everitt Companies has been a leader in the Fort Collins real estate business for 45 years, said the Everitt family and his colleagues within the Everitt Companies share a commitment to Colorado State because of the university’s major impact on the economic and cultural vitality of the city and state.

The Everitts and their associates have given generously to Colorado State, including major gifts to the Morgan Library Campaign, the McGraw Athletic Center, the College of Business and the B.W. Pickett Equine Center.

In the fall, Colorado State University announced $5.7 million in contributions to the University Center for the Arts. This gift enables the university to move into the community phase of the campaign with more than $6.3 million raised toward the $7 million private fund-raising goal. The University Center for the Arts project is a public/private partnership supported by the Colorado General Assembly, which this fall approved the first phase toward a total commitment of $18.6 million in capital construction funds. The $7 million private fund-raising goal of the university will go toward $5 million in capital construction and $2 million in program and scholarship endowments.

The University Center for the Arts will bring Colorado State’s music, theatre and dance programs together under one roof for the first time in university history. The center will feature a 500-seat concert hall, a 300-seat theatre, a 300-seat recital hall, a blackbox theatre, rehearsal

spaces and a natural history collection as well as laboratory, classroom and office space. The center also will include spaces designed for the visual arts and for the College of Applied Human Sciences’ Design and Merchandising collection and gallery.

Other leadership gifts have come from the Griffin Foundation, the Serimus Foundation, Stryker Short Foundation, Adolph Coors Foundation, Monfort Family Foundation, Boettcher Foundation, and the Gates Family Foundation.