As the Elon University performing arts program has expanded over the decades, so has the need for more resources. Elon was able to secure property across from the Inn at Elon to imagine what could become one of the next major campus products: a new performing arts center.
University President Connie Ledoux Book said that, for now, the project remains in its early stages. As soon as the Slattery Center is finished, Elon will start fundraising for the new building. Book said she feels that the proposal of the new building can be transformative for the students in the performing arts, faculty and staff, and the greater Elon community.
Since the late 1980s when the Department of Performing Arts was created in the College of Arts and Sciences, Elon has been increasingly expanding opportunities for students to pursue their passions in the performing arts. Today, the Department of Performing Arts has three bachelors of fine arts and has been featured in Hollywood Reporter’s 2026 list of “The 25 Best Drama Schools in the World.”
Currently, Elon’s Department of Performing Arts is housed in the Center for the Arts, Scott Studios and the Needham Pilates Studio. The CFA includes three performance studios and three dance studios, practice rooms and studios, scenery and costume shops and a pilates studio. Scott Studios houses the Roberts Studio Theatre, a dance studio and practice rooms.
Due to the small studio space in the current performing arts buildings, not all genres of dance and performing arts can be offered at the same time, sophomore musical theatre major Treasure Capers said. However, the new performing arts space can allow for the expansion of these genres, including African dance and hip hop, which is currently offered every other year.
“There’ll be a lot more space to rehearse, to dance, to get everything together,” Capers said. “Just allow us to hone in on our creativeness. It honestly benefits us all in the long run when it comes to that.”
Additional practice rooms for instruments and singing, along with dance studios, would also benefit the students in performing arts due to current limiting schedules. Assistant professor of music theatre Jacob Brent said that new dance studios will allow students to rehearse after class, go over monologues and have more space to film for auditions.
“We have tons of people on Broadway, and to be able to give them that real world experience here to simulate what they’re actually going into, it would be nice,” Brent said. “I’m excited about the possibility of having all the tools and the new technologies to be able to play with, so that our students have really experienced working with them before they go into the industry.”
Along with the new building providing real-world experience, Capers said that the proposed performing arts center can provide more opportunities for a greater range of classes. Currently, because musical theatre shares spaces with dance, the musical theatre program is running out of space and time to offer all of the classes they’d like to offer.
“Each person of each year could have classes that are individualized,” Capers said.
With the musical theatre program currently accepting approximately 16 new students annually, according to the Elon University website, it allows for students to get acquainted with the space and to interact with their chosen genres at a personal level.
“I think that more space would grab a lot of attention because it would allow for more incoming students to be more pulled toward here,” Capers said. “If you have a lot of spaces in which you can craft or teach the things that need to be taught, then a lot of students are more gravitated toward the school.”
Sophomore musical theatre major Jonashton Reid said that having more space for performing arts could help increase accessibility for the program and to allow the performing arts majors to grow altogether. The 2027 edition of “The Best 392 Colleges” by The Princeton Review ranks Elon University among the best in the nation among multiple categories, including ranked as #1 Best College Theater.
“Accessibility is the biggest thing that would allow students to understand that the university itself actually values performing arts here,” Reid said. “I feel like you don’t really know what the school is known for without performing arts in a way. So I feel like we need to be showing respect to performing arts majors.”
Brent said that the Center for the Arts also serves as a cultural hub within the county and surrounding areas as he remembers coming to the same building as a kid. He said he hopes the new center will also help the community.
“I hope that the idea is that this building is more outside in than inside out, that we’re building a space to welcome the community, to bring in the community, to share what’s happening at Elon,” Brent said. “I would love for us to give back, sort of be that beacon of performing arts excellence in the county.”
Capers feels that the Elon performing arts is like a family because of its smaller size and generations of students and community members who have walked through the building’s doors. Capers said she hopes that the feeling continues to grow with the new building.
“We share so much, and we get to communicate so much, which makes us a very nice family,” Capers said. “I think there’s a beauty in growing, and we are all growing together, and that is my hope with everything expanding. Us expanding means that we all morph into something that’s more beautiful.”