A $150M Gift for an Arts Complex at University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky has received a $150 million gift—the largest in the institution’s history—to create a new home for the arts on the Lexington campus.

The donation comes from the Bill Gatton Foundation, established by the late Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, a 1954 alumnus who bought a chain of car dealerships and then invested his earnings in banking and real estate. Gatton and his foundation, which supports community, health care and education, have already donated more than $200 million to UK, including for the agriculture college, the business college, the student center and scholarship programs.

The latest gift will help fund the construction of a new College of Fine Arts building and a theater that holds several hundred people, as well as a pavilion with sculptures and green space.

“Place matters. And Mr. Gatton’s place was always Kentucky,” UK president Eli Capilouto said in a statement. “More than most, Mr. Gatton understood so well that we advance as a state in so many ways—health and education, the economy and the well-being of our people. But he knew, too, that there must be places and spaces to gather, to convene, to come together, to share and have our horizons expanded and our souls replenished.”

The project, which is slated to be completed in 2030, is awaiting approval from state legislators, who must authorize the debt required for the construction.