The Arts District is currently anchored by the Dallas Museum of Art, designed by the illustrious Edward Larabee Barnes; the Morton H. Myerson Symphony Center, designed by I. M. Pei; the Nasher Sculpture Center, designed by the incomparable Renzo Piano; and the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, designed by the sublime Brad Cloepfil. The soon to be completed Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will bring the Dallas Arts District to near completion in late 2009.



With the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, Dallas? cultural scene is about to be changed forever. The Performance Arts Center is the most important and ambitious new performing arts complex to be raised since New York's Lincoln Center in the early nineteen sixties. In an unheard of show of charitable largesse, public and private individuals and entities have already raised an incredible $309 million of the Center's $338 million goal, with more than 127 different patrons pledging at least $1 million each.

Set in the middle of the Arts District and connected by a ten acre public ?Performance? park designed by landscape architect Michel Desvigne of Paris, the center will house four separate state of the art performing spaces. In the public park, huge indigenous trees, multiple lawns and gardens, a reflecting pool, promenades, and walkways will provide a welcome oasis from the hustle and bustle of the urban DFW metroplex.

The performing spaces include the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House and its Margaret McDermott Performance Hall with 2,200 seats for opera, ballet, and broadway shows; the 600 seat Dee and Charles Wyly Theater; the outdoor Annette Strauss Artist Square and the City Performance Hall for Dallas? smaller performing arts organizations.

Designed by Pritzker prize winning architect Norman Foster, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House will be engineered specifically for performances of opera and musical theatre with its stages equipped for performances of ballet and other forms of dance.

The Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre will be one of the world's most innovative theatre facilities. The 12-level building will feature a breathtaking, avante-garde design with an unprecedented "stacked," vertically organized facility that completely rethinks the traditional form of theatre. The Wyly Theatre was designed by Pritzker prize winning architect Rem Koolhaas.

Annette Strauss Artist Square is the new home for the city's premier outdoor performing arts venue. The Square will host a variety of outdoor events ranging from concerts to theatrical and dance performances to multi-day festivals, and will accommodate audiences of up to 5,000 in a peaceful open-air setting.

The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will be completed by the the City Performance Hall. The smaller 750-seat hall will provide main stage production space for Dallas' smaller performing arts organizations.