Why does the world need another actor?

Last year, we decided to invest—not $10 million, not $25 million, but $50 million—in the arts at BU. Go ahead, let that sink in. We’ll wait.

OK, here’s University Provost and Chief Academic Officer Jean Morrison:

“The arts are not only an essential component of the BU experience, but they help enrich the city at large. It’s critical that we offer modern, dynamic settings in which our students can learn, create, and perform—settings that are in keeping with our standing as a global research university.”

For starters, we’re bringing our actors, directors, set designers, playwrights, and production crews back to Comm Ave. After 62 years on Huntington Avenue, two miles from campus, we decided to sell the Boston University Theatre. With the proceeds from the $25 million sale, along with additional University support, we’re building a new studio theatre and a production facility in the heart of our artistic community on campus.

A second project, scheduled to wrap up in fall 2016, will create graduate graphic-design space at 808 Comm Ave, closer to graduate painting and printmaking, allowing the disciplines to fuel each other.

The next chapter will be written in glass. The renovation of our main College of Fine Arts building will swap out forbidding concrete for giant windows, opening up the school, along with its color and vitality, to the street and inviting the community to tap into its artistic side.

Jim Petosa, director of the School of Theatre, says the unification of the School of Theatre on the Charles River Campus will foster a more creative community across campus. “This is a grand vision for the school that will usher in a new era that promises strengthened professional education, increased interaction with the University at large, and greater connectivity among our collaborative artists.”