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Iris Cantor Gift Transforms Theater Possibilities at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts

Iris Cantor’s latest transformative gift was announced recently by New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Mrs. Cantor’s generosity will support the construction of a state-of-the-art proscenium theater at the School. The performance space – part of a planned multi-use building on Bleecker Street whose construction is due to start this year – will be named the Iris Cantor Theater. Tisch School of the Arts has been a long-time recipient of philanthropy from the Cantor Family and for the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

“Education is the foundation of our intellectual existence, teaching us to challenge convention and push beyond boundaries. The arts remind us of what it means to be human — a mission never more important than it is today,” said Mrs. Cantor. “With this most recent gift to NYU, I hope to reaffirm all the tremendous progress made by the Tisch School of the Arts in its comparatively brief history and position the School for an even brighter future. I’m thrilled to be a part of expanding its operations to create a space where young minds can create, expand, and soar.”

Allyson Green, Dean of Tisch School of the Arts, in announcing the Cantor gift, said “We are so grateful to Iris Cantor. For decades, she has earned a reputation not only for her generosity, but also for her civic and artistic leadership, transforming medical, cultural, and educational institutions throughout New York City and the world and encouraging others to do the same. This gift goes right to the heart of what we most needed as a premiere arts education institution – space for student performances.”

“What distinguishes Iris Cantor is not just her generosity, which is enormous,” said John Sexton, President of NYU. “It is her discernment, her ability to make gifts that really make a difference. With this gift, she bestows on NYU – a school renowned for its performing arts – a proscenium theater performing and training space, which will be part of a new signature building for the University that will serve many needed roles under one roof. We are very grateful to Iris Cantor; this will mean the world to generations of theater students and faculty.”

The new space will enable students in performing arts programs at NYU to learn their craft in a setting with the same possibilities as working professional theaters. It will embrace all manner of current and evolving scenic, lighting, audio, and video technologies. The theater will be part of NYU’s proposed major new facility along Mercer Street between Houston and Bleecker Streets. The whole facility will include classrooms and teaching spaces and will serve students at Tisch as well as at NYU’s Steinhardt School’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions.

Dean Green predicted the Iris Cantor Theater will transform the Tisch experience for students in drama, graduate acting, dance, performance studies, and design. The result will more than double Tisch’s current rehearsal space and will make possible more numerous professional grade performances, she said.

Previously Cantor Family and Foundation support for Tisch has included a Cantor Scholarship Fund and the creation of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center.
(Images courtesy NYU Department of Drama. Top: Troilus & Cressida. Bottom: The Wild Party.)