Bowie State unveils its new Dionne Warwick performing arts theatre

The Grammy-winning artist was in attendance for the unveiling of the Dionne Warwick Theater on April 1.

Bowie State University, a historically Black college in Maryland, has named its performance arts theater after music icon Dionne Warwick, NBC Washington reports. 

The Grammy-winning artist attended the unveiling of the Dionne Warwick Theater on April 1. Hundreds of people and some of Warwick’s celebrity pals, including gospel singer BeBe Winans, came out to support.

For the occasion, Winans performed an “Amazing Grace” impromptu. Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen and Tom Selleck also paid tribute to Warwick through previously taped video messages. 

Warwick said during her speech that Bowie State is “a traditional Black college, and with us losing so many of them, this is a fine promotion to give. [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] are still very vital, not only to our existence but to the world,” the HuffPost reports.

The theater is the second performing arts venue named after the vocalist. The other was Warwick’s New Jersey elementary school, renamed The Dionne Warwick Institute.

“This theater bearing my name, I do not lend my name to everything, this is something I am so very, very not only happy but proud to be able to say ‘yes,’” Warwick said at the Bowie State theater unveiling, according to The Baltimore Sun.

“I feel exceptionally privileged to have my name on those doors out there,” she said.

At the theater’s inaugural performance under Warwick’s name, students danced and sang “That’s What Friends Are For,” “Walk on By,” and “I Say a Little Prayer,” The Baltimore Sun reports.

During her campus visit, Warwick visited Bowie State’s wellness center and was “absolutely blown away by the work they do there,” she stated, according to NBC Washington.

Warwick did not attend Bowie State as a student but is being honored in this way for her contribution to the arts as well as her longtime philanthropy and humanitarian work, which includes HIV/AIDS advocacy in the 1980s. 

Tewodross Williams, associate professor and chair of the university’s fine and performing arts department, is calling on students past and current to come out and support the theater’s upcoming offerings. 

“We want people to come see these amazing performances, film festivals, and all kinds of things that are happening. Come out and support,” Williams said, Yahoo reports.

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