UTD Opens Doors to O’Donnell Athenaeum, Campus Arts District
By: Daniel Steele | November 1, 2024
The first phase museum building of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum opened in September.
O’Donnell Athenaeum donors joined with University leaders to officially open the first-phase museum.
The Brettell Reading Room contains more than 2,500 books from Dr. Richard Brettell’s personal library.
Taiko drummers welcomed guests to a celebration of the O’Donnell Athenaeum.
Guests enjoyed interacting with performers at the opening gala reception on Oct. 5.
Visitors explored the exhibits now open at the UT Dallas Art Museums after the opening gala dinner and program.
In September, The University of Texas at Dallas introduced the first phase of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, a new 12-acre cultural district that will eventually include two museums, a performance hall and music building, and a grand arts plaza.
The O’Donnell Athenaeum is the latest milestone in a period of significant growth for the arts at UT Dallas made possible by visionary gifts from the project’s leading donors. These include the O’Donnell Foundation’s lead gift of $32 million, the Crow family’s gift of $25.45 million (in addition to its donation of the entire Crow Museum collection in 2019), the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation’s $40 million gift to the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology and the O’Donnell Athenaeum’s second phase in 2023, and early gifts from the late Margaret McDermott and Beatrice “Bea” Wallace.
“Here, the arts span disciplines, extend cultural concepts and inform our scholarship,” said Dr. Richard C. Benson, UT Dallas president and the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership, at the formal dedication. “I am mindful and appreciative of the fact that this university’s work to develop complete minds has been made possible by some very forward-thinking and generous people.”
The first phase of the O’Donnell Athenaeum features the UT Dallas Art Museums, including the Trammell and Margaret Crow Museum of Asian Art, several galleries dedicated to exhibitions on loan from the Dallas Museum of Art, objects from the University’s growing collection of Latin American art and works from Dallas photographer Carolyn Brown.
The building also includes the Brettell Reading Room, made possible by more than $500,000 in support from friends and family of the late Dr. Richard R. Brettell, founding director of the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History.
“The opportunity to combine the arts with the broader educational mission of UTD here in this athenaeum is really unusual and exciting,” said Bill Solomon, chairman, president and CEO of the O’Donnell Foundation. “I’m very proud to see Peter and Edith O’Donnell’s name on this complex.”
In addition to the ribbon-cutting for the Phase 1 building, UTD and UT System leaders broke ground on the O’Donnell Athenaeum’s next phase: a performance hall and music building projected to open in fall 2026.
Phase 2 will include a 680-seat performance hall and music building for the Bass School. The structure will include two large rehearsal rooms, solo rehearsal rooms, a percussion studio, classrooms, a recording studio, a student study lounge and spaces for impromptu musical performances.
In addition to naming the school, the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation’s landmark $40 million gift in 2023 supports the second phase of the O’Donnell Athenaeum.
“To have our name associated with The University of Texas at Dallas brings to mind all the things Harry W. Bass Jr. found important in his life – that is everything from technology to the arts and humanities,” said Michael Calhoun, president and trustee of the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation. “This is the culmination for the arts, and we are very excited for the rest of Dallas to see it.”