The University of Kentucky has received the largest private gift in its 160-year history — a $150 million donation from the Bill Gatton Foundation to construct a new arts district on campus.
According to the university, the gift, which will be paid out over a period of years, will be used to fund several projects, including:
- The construction of a new College of Fine Arts building;
- The addition of a several-hundred-seat theater to house performances of dance, music and theater;
- The creation of a pavilion with sculptures and greenspace that will connect several blocks of the campus to downtown Lexington, adding to a growing arts and innovation corridor for the city.
“This gift will realize a vision to create an arts district on the western edge of our campus,” said UK President Eli Capilouto, in a statement. “There, we can integrate art into an area of Lexington that is an increasingly vibrant and vital intersection of campus and city, town and gown.”
Capilouto added that the College of Fine Arts community would be engaged in discussions about programming for the new arts district as well as planning for the future of existing art facilities like the Singletary Center and UK Art Museum. “We have much work to do, which will require engagement, discussions and planning with a large number of stakeholders,” he said. The goal is to complete the project in 2030.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear added, “this $150 million gift — the largest in UK’s history — will help not only the university but also Lexington and Kentucky, as it creates a vibrant, welcoming arts district for students, Kentuckians and visitors to enjoy. Education and the arts fuel our economy and our workforce, and investments like these are how we keep working to build a bright future for generations.”
About the Bill Gatton Foundation
Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1954 with a degree in business administration. As a forerunner to his later career, he financed part of his education by working part-time as a sales representative for a Chevrolet dealership in Lexington, Kentucky. After a stint in the Army, he earned his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.
Following his graduation from Wharton, Gatton established Bill Gatton Motors in Owensboro, Kentucky, and then ultimately went on to own ten auto franchises in Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas. He used the profits from his automobile businesses to invest in banking and real estate. From 1981 to 2002 he served as chairman and was a major stockholder of Area Bancshares of Owensboro, Kentucky, the largest bank holding company in Kentucky at the time. He also held stock in a number of regional and national banks.
In 1985, he established the Bill Gatton Foundation, which has since donated hundreds of millions of dollar to educational and healthcare organizations in Kentucky, Northeast Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia. (In full disclosure, I served as UK’s provost from 2001-2005 and knew Mr. Gatton.)
Gatton, who passed away in April 2022, was the largest individual donor to the University of Kentucky and served for many years on its Board of Trustees. In 2023, his foundation bestowed what was at that time the largest single gift in UK history – $100 million for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE). In recognition, UK renamed CAFE the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment in honor of Gatton’s parents, Edith Martin and Harry W. Gatton Sr. The university’s Gatton College of Business and Economics and the Gatton Student Center are also both named after him.