Lincoln, Neb.--The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center will be formally dedicated on Friday, September 5 at 7pm. Mary Riepma Ross of New York City, a strong supporter of the arts at UNL, will be in attendance, along with current New School President and former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey, who was on the original Friends of Mary Riepma Ross Board. Chancellor Harvey S. Perlman, University of Nebraska Foundation President Terry Fairfield, Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Dean Giacomo M. Oliva and Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center Director Danny L. Ladely will also take part in the dedication ceremony.

The Cooper Foundation will be presented with the Mary Riepma Ross Award for their long-standing support of the film theater program at UNL. The Cooper Foundation made a significant gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to benefit the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center building fund. The larger of the two theaters, which seats just under 250, has been named The Joseph H. Cooper Theater, in honor of Joseph Cooper, founder of the Cooper Theater Company and the Cooper Foundation.

The dedication ceremony will be followed by a screening of "Jules and Jim," one of Ross's favorite films, which will be followed by a reception in the Van Brunt Visitors Center, adjacent to the film theater. "Jules and Jim," a film by François Truffaut, is one of the most poetic films of the French New Wave.

Ross announced plans in the early 1990s to establish an irrevocable trust at the NU Foundation for construction and support of a new film theater and academic center. The new Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center at 13th and Q streets in downtown Lincoln is a state-of-the-art facility home to a comprehensive exhibition program that acknowledges the moving image as a principal art form.

The new facility features two auditoriums for film and video screenings, the most up-to-date screening technology, a concession stand, a research library, film and video archives, offices, and classrooms for the Department of Theatre Arts ' Film and New Media Program.

"The facility itself is unique," Ladely said. "Only a handful of places have something like this, so we are fortunate to have a facility like this due to [Mary Riepma] Ross's vision. We're grateful to her."

Admission to the dedication ceremony on Sept. 5 is by invitation only. However, a series entitled "Our Favorite Films: Mary, Norman and Me" featuring the favorite films of Mary Riepma Ross, Sheldon Director Emeritus Norman Geske and Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center Director Danny Ladely, will be shown the week prior and the week following the dedication.

For more information, please visit the MRRMAC website at http://www.TheRoss.org or call (402) 472-5353.

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