A new building on the Macomb campus of Western Illinois University will be named for a former president of the institution.
Naming is extremely important and personal to Dr. Al Goldfarb.
“My parents were Holocaust survivors,” the Western Illinois University president emeritus told the Board of Trustees on Tuesday morning.
“There was no expectation that my father’s name would carry on. He was the only survivor in his family.”
Now, the Goldfarb name will continue to live on in Macomb after the board agreed that the new performing arts center under construction on campus will be known as The Goldfarb Center for Performing Arts.
It’s named for both Al and his wife, Elaine.
Al called this one of the most significant days of his life.
“This is a remarkable moment for me, and a remarkable moment in terms of my family history,” he said.
Praise for Goldfarb
Trustee Kirk Dillard called the naming a fitting honor.
“Sometimes buildings are named after people that don’t have a nexus to what they have done professionally. But this one is perfect. Al is a theater person of national recognition,” Dillard said.
He also credited Goldfarb with being a driving force behind the CPA.
BoT Vice Chairperson Polly Radosh also praised Goldfarb for his commitment to the arts and the CPA, but added that his accomplishments extend beyond that.
Radosh worked at WIU during Goldfarb’s tenure, and called his presidency “remarkable.” She said Goldfarb reformed the campus in big and small ways, developed an inclusive strategic planning process, advocated for fair pay for everyone, committed to expanding diversity – and that’s just scratching the surface.
“Dr. Goldfarb’s priorities always focused on making WIU a better place to work and learn. He motivated the campus to excellence,” Radosh said.
“But most importantly, he built a culture at WIU that was civil, respectful, empathetic, kind, inclusive, compassionate, and unified around pride at WIU.”
She said Goldfarb set the tone for respecting dissent and building a civil means of working through differences.
Radosh said Goldfarb deserves to have a building named after him to honor everything he did for WIU.
Goldfarb ready to watch performances in the CPA
Goldfarb said he “definitely” will be in the audience for opening night at the CPA, which has been decades in the making.
“I never thought I’d be here to see an opening night,” he said. “I’ll just be ecstatic to see anything within that building opening night because it’ll be a remarkable moment for this university and region.”
Goldfarb believes the building will be an exquisite facility and an amazing tool for recruiting theater, music, and dance students to WIU.
“Students will be working in a state-of-the-art facility, and probably one of the best facilities in the state of Illinois,” he said.
“The architects who’ve worked on this project have worked on many distinguished projects across the state and across the country.”
Goldfarb has donated to WIU in a couple ways as part of the CPA project. One is an endowment to support students, performing artists, and programming.
In addition, in his will, Goldfarb is leaving WIU half of the royalties from sales of the theater-related textbooks he’s written.
More about Goldfarb
Goldfarb served as WIU’s 10th president from July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2011. He continued to teach theater while leading the institution.
“I stay in touch with many of my Western Illinois University theater students,” he said.
“Being on a building where there will be future students of theater and music is extremely important to me.”
One of his stated priorities as president was to build a center for performing arts in Macomb. He even participated in a couple ceremonial groundbreakings, including one in April, 2011, shortly before he retired.
But state funding failed to come through until just a couple years ago. Goldfarb returned to Macomb in Oct., 2022 for that groundbreaking ceremony, too.
The CPA will be the first new building on the Macomb campus paid for with state dollars since Malpass Library opened in September, 1978.
Goldfarb came to Western after working for 25 years at Illinois State University. He was ISU’s provost and academic vice president at the time WIU hired him.
Also during his time at ISU, Goldfarb served as dean of fine arts and department chair of theatre. He is credited with leading the effort to build a permanent theater for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and a new center for the performing arts at the university.
During his time as a teacher there, one of Goldfarb’s students was Billy Clow, who is now the Dean of the College and Fine Arts and Communication at WIU.
Construction continues
The state is spending $119 million to build it.
WIU anticipates construction of the 100,000 square foot building will be substantially completed by late 2025.
The building’s “Great Hall” will seat 875. The main theater will include:
- An adjustable width proscenium
- A full acoustic concert shell
- Broadcast, livestream, and recording booths
- A full hydraulic orchestra pit
A smaller space referred to as “The Studio” space will seat 100 to 200 -- depending on the configuration. The center will also have two dance studios, a jazz performance studio, a theater rehearsal studio, and rooms for classes and seminars.
Clow said there is a full set of drawings for a performing arts center in Macomb that dates back to the early to mid 1970s. The project never materialized, and the plans gathered dust until Goldfarb became Western’s president in 2002.
Even then, it took another 20 years for construction to finally begin.
And now, the building has a name.
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