BOCA RATON, FLA.- The Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corporation announced a new capital gift of $1M from a Director of the BRADEC Board, Elizabeth Dudley. Dudley’s contribution will help build the Boca Raton Center for Arts & Innovation at the north end of Mizner Park in downtown Boca Raton. This pledge comes just one week after another generous donor announced the project’s first seven-figure capital pledge of $5 million.

The donors’ lounge of this new world-class Center will be named after Elizabeth Dudley and her late husband, Richard. “Dick would be very happy and supportive in his quiet manner,” Dudley says. “He recognized good, cultural entertainment and would appreciate that this will now have a place right here in the Boca Raton area.”

Dudley, a frequent and lifelong patron of the arts, adds, “In addition to providing a home for the local organizations, this project will be an incredible opportunity for our city to bring more cultural events to the community, as opposed to the decades-long need to drive 30-plus minutes north or south. For so long, we have had to go where the arts are. Finally, there’ll be a home where the arts come to Boca Raton.”

In May, BRADEC won unanimous support from the Boca Raton City Council and the Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency to negotiate a lease for the Mizner Park Amphitheater site and an adjacent, 1.8-acre land parcel. Following negotiations with the City, expected to be complete this calendar year, these capital gifts will enable BRADEC to continue the new Center’s design, programming and community engagement.

“On behalf of BRADEC, we are very grateful to Liz for not only her service on the Board, but for this generous donation that has helped kickstart our campaign to cement this region of the Gold Coast as a place that exemplifies cultural excellence,” says Andrea Virgin, President of BRADEC. “In advance of a signed ground lease, these early capital gifts highlight the swelling momentum and support that continues to build daily for the Center.”

Dudley has been deeply involved with several non-profit organizations in Florida since she moved to the state in 1991. She has held multiple directorial positions for the boards of Boca Ballet Theatre, Boca Pops, National Society of Arts and Letters, Louis and Anne Green Memory & Wellness Center and Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club Homeowners’ Association. She has served on many gala committees for the Boca Raton Historical Society, the Tri-County Humane Society and Boca Ballet Theatre. She is also a member of American Ballet Theatre’s Lucia Chase Society, the Dance Theatre of Harlem Legacy Society and Boca Ballet Theatre’s Pavlova Legacy Society.

Nominated twice for the Junior League of Boca Raton’s Woman Volunteer of the Year award for her service to Boca Ballet Theatre and Caring Hearts Auxiliary of FAU, Dudley has served the Boca Raton community well. Although retired, she continues her service to the nonprofit sector as an active board member for the Boca Raton Center for Arts & Innovation and Boca Ballet Theatre, and continues to contribute to numerous other causes and organizations in the South Florida area.