The Overture Center for the Arts anchors this block of State Street. This is Madison’s major performing arts center and art gallery, a building that opened on September 19, 2004 and replaced the former Civic Center that once sat on this very block of State Street. Inside, the center houses the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art alongside several theaters.
The project was commissioned by Jerome "Jerry" Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland, founder of American Girl, and the entire building costs were covered by multiple gifts totaling $205 million from Frautschi and Rowland. The design is by architect César Pelli, whose other notable projects include the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. Since the doors opened in 2004, the Overture Center has had five Presidents and CEOs.
Bob D'Angelo was the first President and CEO; he resigned in 2005 following an employee's allegations of sexual harassment, and afterward served 10 months of a one-year prison term for tax evasion and misusing his city office. More recent leaders have included Michael Goldberg. The architect who gave Kuala Lumpur its Petronas Towers shaped this hall too, paid for entirely by Frautschi and Rowland's gifts.