PCD Begins Construction of New Arts Center

The center will feature a 700-square-foot art gallery leading into a 2,100-square-foot theater, home of the PCD Players. This new state-of-the-art theater will serve as the home for all theater and musical performances, while also providing a wonderful meeting space for our students and faculty. In addition, the building will house new classrooms for visual arts, music, and a maker space. By relocating all of these arts programs under one roof, PCD will free up classrooms in Metcalf and Lund Halls for general use—expanding enrollment opportunities for 75 additional students while preserving the school’s hallmark small class sizes.

Head of School, Kevin Folan, indicates that this new Arts Center is the final piece in the campus consolidation with the Henry Barnard Lower School. “Our new arts center serves as the first building on the PCD campus designed singularly for the development of our artists, musicians, and actors. We could not be more excited to launch this new chapter in our school’s evolution. This building is the crown jewel in our overall campus masterplan. Over the past five years we have doubled our enrollment, reduced our tuition to create greater access for our families, and enhanced all of our academic and co-curricular programs. PCD is a school on the move.”

Patrick McQuade ’06, President of PCD’s Board of Trustees, agrees. “We were initially daunted by the idea of welcoming an additional 100 Henry Barnard students to our campus, and then our Head of School, Kevin Folan, called me and said, ‘Can I run a crazy idea by you?’ One year later, that bold idea has become a reality: we have successfully consolidated our students and poured the foundation for a new state-of-the-art building. This project will inspire creativity, enrich the student experience for generations to come, and truly put the ‘country day’ back in PCD.”

Jen Karl, Head of PCD’s Art Department, says the new building is especially meaningful to the school’s young artists. “It marks our commitment—to creativity, to innovation, and most importantly, to the incredible students whose talent and passion make this community so vibrant. This new arts building is more than bricks and mortar. It’s a promise: that we believe in the power of the arts to shape lives, to challenge minds, and to bring people together.”

The new art center is part of the school’s Centennial Campaign, which was announced by Folan during PCD’s Centennial Gala in June 2024. The Centennial Campaign is the first of its kind in school history, with targeted goals of $1.5 million for endowment, $5 million in unrestricted gifts, and $8.5 million for capital projects. The school has already raised nearly $12 million, putting the campaign on track to reach the ambitious $15 million overall goal in the next two fiscal years.