Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, residents of Westphalia, Missouri, have given a $10 million gift to the University of Missouri to help fund the proposed new School of Music building. Through the generous gift, which is the largest gift ever to MU to support the fine arts, the Sinquefields will help begin the fundraising efforts for the new School of Music building. The proposed site for the new building is the northeast corner of Hitt Street and University Avenue on the MU campus. The new School of Music building is a part of a larger project that will include the renovation of the Fine Arts Building in order also to improve facilities for the MU theater and art departments.
The Sinquefields are long-time supporters of music and the arts, specifically music composition. The Sinquefields’ support for composition at Mizzou began more than ten years ago with the Creating Original Music Project, a statewide K-12 competition and affiliated high school summer camp. In 2009, they gave MU $1 million to create the Mizzou New Music Initiative. This initiative is comprised of an array of programs including the Sinquefield Composition Prize, which is MU’s highest honor for a student composer. These programs expanded university scholarships, ensembles, and faculty support, and created an international composer festival at MU. In 2013, the Sinquefields gave an additional $1.4 million to continue these programs. This new gift, along with previous gifts to other areas around campus, brings the Sinquefields’ total giving to MU to more than $13 million. Jeanne Sinquefield says she hopes this latest gift will improve the facilities for composers as well as all musicians at Mizzou.
“We want Mizzou to become an international mecca for music composition,” Sinquefield said. “Currently the School of Music is spread out in five different buildings across the entire campus. By giving the School its own facility, we can not only take a large step in positioning MU as a leader in music composition, but also help to create opportunities for the School to become a leader in music performance and education as well.”
Reviewed 2015-05-07