Grove resident donates $5M to Cleveland Institute of Art

The Cleveland Institute of Art has announced a $5 million gift from Peter B. Lewis, Coconut Grove resident and chair of Cleveland (OH)-based Progressive Insurance, to support construction of a 91,000-square-foot building as the final component of the college’s campus unification project.

“We are thrilled to receive this wonderful gift, not only because it represents a strong endorsement of our vision for a unified campus from this nationally known philanthropist with deep Cleveland roots, but also because it acknowledges the efforts of our University Circle neighbors in developing the Uptown project into a national model of culture and commerce,” explained Grafton J. Nunes, CIA’s president and CEO.

The Uptown development is a complex of rental residences, restaurants, and retail anchored at one end by the new MOCA Cleveland and at the other end by the Cleveland Institute of Art.

This is the largest gift from Lewis to a Cleveland institution in over a decade and is the largest gift from an individual in CIA’s 130-year history. In recognition of this gift, CIA will name the auditorium in the new building the Peter B. Lewis Theater.

In addition to the theater, which will be the new home of the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, the new building will house CIA’s nationally ranked design majors, its acclaimed biomedical art and digital arts programs, art galleries, and administrative offices.

For more information visit online at <www.cia.edu>.