Overture Center Collection: 20th Anniversary Celebration

Due to the aging Madison Civic Center, a plan was put forth in 1996 to begin the development of new arts facilities that would help improve access to art in the Madison community. Jerry Frautschi, a fifth-generation Wisconsinite, founded the Overture Foundation in 1997 and began to plan his donation that would help to create new facilities for an arts center that would promote community, creativity, and collaboration. After the announcement of his $50 million donation to help develop this new downtown arts district in Madison, he swiftly doubled his donation so that his vision for the creation of the new Overture Center for the Arts could begin. The city quickly began to plan for the demolition of the Madison Civic Center, but with the building plans growing grander, more financial support was needed. With a total donation of $205 million from Frautschi and his wife, Pleasant Rowland, their donation became the largest single gift to the arts in American history to date, and helped achieve the final goal of the center's creation.

Overture Center for the Arts opened on September 19, 2004. Similarly to the opening celebrations of the Madison Civic Center, a week-long festival of programs and performances were planned to celebrate and invite the Madison community into the new space. With a complete renovation of the space, Overture Center now includes seven performance spaces and four galleries, including the Overture Hall, Capitol Theater, The Playhouse, Promenade Hall, and the Rotunda.

In 2024/25, for its 20th Anniversary, Overture will present seven Broadway performances, three Duck Soup Cinema screenings, and more than 30 national and international shows.