Woodruff Center for the Arts Launches $67 Million Campaign

Woodruff Center for the Arts kicked off its $67 million “Experience Atlanta, Experience Woodruff” campaign with a groundbreaking ceremony for two additional performance spaces: the Goizueta Stage for youth and families and the PNC PlaySpace.

Experience Atlanta, Experience Woodruff will breathe new life into the campus, expand access to proven educational programs, and secure the Woodruff Arts Center’s place as Atlanta’s center for the arts. Located in the renovated Rich Theatre, Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families will be a transformational space for Atlanta’s youngest patrons, featuring carefully curated programming from the Alliance Theatre and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

“We are thrilled to support Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families and continue the deep relationship my father, Roberto C. Goizueta, had with Woodruff Arts Center during his lifetime,” said Olga Goizueta Rawls, president and CEO of The Goizueta Foundation. “The Woodruff

The Arts Center has a long history of providing excellent programming for children and families, and Scena will only continue to enhance that offering for all children in the future.

Open six days a week, PNC PlaySpace will be an experiential learning center where children can enjoy free play, interactive performances, and the chance to create, move, and pretend—all at no cost to families. Funding for PNC PlaySpace is made possible by the PNC Foundation, in alignment with PNC’s flagship philanthropic initiative, PNC Grow Up Great®, an early childhood education initiative now in its 20th year. Woodruff Arts Center has partnered with PNC Grow Up Great for 10 years, positively impacting thousands of children in the Atlanta metropolitan area during that time.

“For more than a decade, PNC has worked to improve the quality of life in metropolitan Atlanta by investing in high-quality early childhood education and the arts,” said Eddie Meyers, PNC Georgia regional president. “Our continued support of the Woodruff Arts Center demonstrates our long-term commitment to fostering a strong, vibrant arts community and a lifelong love of learning among Atlanta’s children.”

In addition to the Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families and PNC PlaySpace, capital renovations include the creation of a vibrant, green outdoor community space, lighting improvements, clear signage and infrastructure upgrades. Construction is set to begin in mid-August, with the spaces expected to open in January 2026.

“We are so grateful to our donors who make this work possible,” said Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center. “Their generosity allows us to create a more inclusive and accessible community space that invites patrons from all walks of life to spend more time with us and experience art in new and personal ways.”

In conjunction with Experience Atlanta, Experience Woodruff, Alliance Theatre launched the Imagine Campaign, establishing a $10 million trust fund that will be dedicated solely to sustaining theatrical offerings and removing barriers to access, such as ticketing and transportation costs, for young audiences of all backgrounds at the new Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families.

“The Goizueta Stage and PNC PlaySpace will make it clear that youth and families are not just welcome at the Woodruff Arts Center, but that the entire front of the building was designed specifically with them in mind,” said Christopher Moses, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director at the Alliance Theatre. “With these dedicated spaces for youth and families, families and educators will be able to continue to rely on us as a source for life-changing artistic experiences. We will no longer have to ask the busiest people in our community (parents of young children and educators) to change their schedules to accommodate our production calendars; instead, we will make these experiences readily available to all Atlantans.”

“It’s exciting to imagine people from all over Georgia coming here to hear and make music in this flexible, intimate, state-of-the-art space,” said Jennifer Barlament, executive director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. “It opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to serve more people in new and creative ways.”

“Creating a creative environment that is accessible to everyone from the moment they arrive on campus is important to us, and these significant improvements will make the experience for every visitor much better,” said Rand Suffolk, High’s principal. “These updates not only signal an investment in world-class art and architecture, but they will also help preserve the largest object in our collection: the museum itself.”

To learn more or get involved with Experience Atlanta, Experience Woodruff, visit woodruffcenter.org/capital-campaign. To access the full Experience Atlanta, Experience Woodruff press kit, click here.

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