Give Beyond the Classroom

Mason is a destination for artists, and lovers of the arts, in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland.

Be Surrounded by Sound
Be Surrounded by Sound

Japanese ensemble TAO combines music and dance to reflect Japanese tradition, while also reflecting Korean, Maori, and Indonesian influences. The group performed at the Center for the Arts.

Support the Performing Arts Centers

Each year, more than 200,000 audience members attend 60 performances at the Center for the Arts on the Fairfax Campus and the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Prince William County, featuring world-renowned symphony, ballet, opera, theater and dance companies. Private funding ensures performances remain vibrant and affordable today and for future generations.

Support the Green Machine Ensembles

The Green Machine Ensembles are the Athletic Bands and Campus Spirit Ensembles of George Mason University.  The Ensembles consist of students from a wide-variety of majors from across the University. They also boast the number one pep band in the nation, according to the NCAA. The ensembles are comprised of:

This organization provides a unique link between the arts and athletics, campus and the community and is the physical embodiment of spirit at George Mason University.

Young Alumni Commissioning Project

George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts aims to continue supporting the work of its recent alumni through the Young Alumni Commissioning Project. With the goal of providing crucial support for our alumni’s artistic development, one recent CVPA alum will be commissioned to create a new artistic work.

To donate, please: 

  • visit the College of Visual and Performing Arts gift form, 
  • enter the gift amount next to “College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean’s Advancement Fund,” and
  • in the box below the list of giving allocations that states, If you selected "Other" as a designation, type the name of the fund or giving opportunity you are choosing to support in the space provided, enter "Young Alumni Commissioning Project."

Support the Mason Community Arts Academy

As the College of Visual and Performing Arts' non-degree community outreach arm, private funding for the Mason Community Arts Academy (formerly Potomac Arts Academy) supports individual and group arts instruction for 3,000 community members of all skill levels, artistic abilities and socio-economic backgrounds. Courses are taught by our distinguished faculty and graduate-level arts education students in the evening, after school and in summer intensive settings. The Academy's Instruments in the Attic program transforms forgotten musical instruments into treasures for Mason Music Education majors and the public school students they teach in a suite of in-school programs.

Support the Historical Movement Archive

This multi-faceted research program is dedicated to the research, analysis, and preservation of previously unavailable movement knowledge, and making that knowledge available to researchers, teachers, students, historians, and movement artists around the world. The broad range of movement knowledge will include historical forms of martial arts, dance, training principles, music in performance, cultural dance and movement traditions, and other related topics. Learn more about the Historical Movement Archive.

Capital Needs

Several of the College of Visual and Performing Arts' physical assets – including the Center for the Arts and Harris Theatre, our two busiest venues – are sound, but aging. Renovation will enhance their capabilities and restore their competitive position. Responding to demonstrated demand, the Hylton Performing Arts Center is expanding its program, with an Education Wing opening in 2019.

In our teaching spaces, technology is reaching obsolescence, requiring long-term investment to deliver a 21st century education in the arts. A total of $30 million, in a blend of endowment and temporarily restricted funds, will allow our facilities to meet the needs, both current and projected, of the communities we serve.

For more information, contact Susan Graziano, Director of Development, Fairfax Programs, at sglomb@gmu.edu, 703-993-4188; or Eileen Kennedy, Director of Development, Hylton Performing Arts Center, at ekenned9@gmu.edu, 703-993-6092.