Orlando, Fla. – During today’s Orange County Commission meeting, Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center (DPAC) Chairman Jim Pugh announced that the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation has pledged $1 million to help build the performing arts center in the heart of downtown Orlando. The Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation gift brings the total amount of charitable contributions raised close to $80 million.

"Our foundation, made possible by the generosity of Jeannette Genius McKean and
McKean, is glad to join the community support for a much needed performing arts center,” Harold Ward, president of the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation. “Our trustees believe our gift is in keeping with the support the McKean’s provided during their lifetimes for and the arts in Central Florida, and would be enthusiastically endorsed by them.”'

The Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation was founded in 1959 by Jeannette Genius McKean in honor of her mother. Located in Winter Park, which was her home with husband Hugh F. McKean, the Genius Foundation supports the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. The Genius Foundation also supports other charitable organizations and other educational, art, and cultural organizations supported by the McKeans.

“Part of the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation’s mission, like the performing arts center, is to foster individual self-worth and dignity, with a broad emphasis on the classical fine arts,” said Jim Pugh, chairman of the DPAC board of directors. “This is an incredible gift to the arts center to help cultivate the arts for children and adults alike.”

DPAC will be home to the region’s resident organizations’ performances, including the Orlando Philharmonic, Orlando Ballet, Orlando Opera and Festival of Orchestras. In addition, it will provide a venue for touring shows. The performing arts center plans to develop a mixed-use urban arts facility with two large performance halls, a 300-seat theater, educational facilities and a public plaza for outdoor performances.

The Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center (DPAC), a 501(c) 3 nonprofit corporation, is responsible to design, build and operate a performing arts center in Orlando. The vision of DPAC is to develop a destination that elevates the arts, provides the best arts education, generates urban renewal, and most importantly, is programmed to be fiscally responsible in construction and operations. For more information about the DPAC initiative, please visit www.orlandopac.org.