The new Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College is now open at the Hillel Gate entrance. The state-of-the-art facility offers the college’s performing arts programs an outstanding set of venues, including a state-of-the-art academic theater and rehearsal and performance spaces. Named after alumni Leonard ’50 and Claire ’52 Tow, who donated $10 million to the college to create it, the Tow Center will raise our college’s profile in the arts world, demonstrating our enduring commitment to the performing arts. The new building creates a new home and expanded facilities for the Conservatory of Music and the Department of Theater, and includes rehearsal and performance space, set design and construction workshops, a double-height theater seating 225, a grand lobby and arcade, and classroom, meeting, and reception rooms. The surrounding site has been reconstructed to incorporate a new campus gateway to replace existing Hillel Gate with an enhanced security station. A new grand open plaza incorporates drought resistant planting with generous seating areas and bicycle racks. The building is fully ADA accessible (including technology in the Performance Hall for audio & visual impairments) and provides ADA access to all floors in Whitman Hall for the first time. PAC is the first LEED-certified, sustainable building on the campus incorporating low water-use toilets, recycled materials and highly efficient HVAC and lighting systems.
