INDIANAPOLIS – Clowes Memorial Hall of Butler University, which turns 50 in October 2013, has been awarded a $2 million grant by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation to begin the renovation of the interior of the auditorium by replacing the approximately 2,200 seats and installing new carpet.
Renovations also will include some acoustical enhancement, roof repairs, and wall repairs such as painting, plastering, and wood restoration. Work will be done during the summer of 2013, in time for Clowes’ 50th anniversary celebration.
“This generous gift comes at a perfect time as we look back on Clowes Hall’s first 50 years and forward to Clowes’ next 50,” said Elise Kushigian, executive director of Clowes Memorial Hall. “We’re grateful to the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation for helping keep this spectacular theater operating at full capacity.”
Clowes Hall, which opened on Oct. 18, 1963, was built in memory of the late Dr. George Henry Alexander Clowes, former research director for Eli Lilly and Company, and was the initial home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
The idea of a multi-purpose hall to serve Indianapolis and the community as a center for all the entertaining arts was conceived by George Clowes, who devoted his life to science and the arts. Funds to erect and complete the hall were subscribed by his family, with his wife, Edith Whitehill Clowes as the principal donor, Butler University, and a small circle of friends. Allen Whitehill Clowes was George and Edith’s son as well as a Butler trustee.
In 2009, the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation granted the hall $500,000 to complete a mechanical engineering infrastructure study that became part of a 10-year plan for the continued restoration and renovation needs of the building.
“We are proud to continue the legacy of Allen Clowes himself and the entire Clowes family for their passion of the arts, their dreams, and their commitment to make Clowes Memorial Hall a reality,” Butler President James Danko said. “We are reminded of their generosity every time we attend a performance or lecture in the venue.”
