Following a nearly three-year, $123.8 million renovation, the Hopkins Center for the Arts threw open its doors for its grand opening and dedication this past weekend, bringing the community together with notable alumni and artists for three days of celebration.
At least 500 students had tickets for events, while more than 400 attended free workshops and talks with Dartmouth alumni, according to College senior media relations officer Amy Olson. The Saturday community picnic on the Green, which featured musician Hans Williams — who was born and raised in Norwich, Vt. — in concert, attracted more than 5,000 attendees.
Mindy Kaling ’01 — an award-winning actress, comedian, producer and screenwriter — was on campus for the celebrations. In an interview with The Dartmouth, she said she hoped the new Mindy Kaling Theater Lab — which expands student rehearsal spaces and allows for concurrent productions — would give students a place to “put aside your ego to work on things and make it better.”
“To this day, some of my greatest successes have been things that were at one point terrible,” Kaling said. “I’m so happy that the space can be a workshop space for people.”
Donating the theater lab was also a personal achievement, Kaling added.
“It feels like part of a world that people like me — children of immigrants — have been left out of, so that’s very new and exciting,” she said.
Kaling’s eponymous theater lab is located in the new Daryl and Steven Roth Wing, which was made possible through the single largest donation in the history of the Dartmouth Arts District, College President Sian Leah Beilock said in her speech at the Roth Wing dedication on Oct. 17. The new Arts District on East Wheelock Street includes the Hood Museum of Art, the Hopkins Center and the Black Family Visual Arts Center.
Associate music professor Ash Fure said in a speech at the dedication that the new Hopkins Center is “a building whose flexible power compels us to imagine our world anew.”
The Hopkins Center “is a jet engine, a place where culture can be forged and launched into the world to change it, a place that can uplift living artists who are rising to meet and metabolize this moment that all of us are trembling through in our own ways — but we have to rise to meet this building,” she said.
Students in the arts were inspired by the opportunity to work with accomplished alumni. Displaced Theatre Company member Walker Rivard ’29 said he thought the “Hop Celebration of the Arts weekend was incredible.”
“It was the perfect way to usher in the newly expanded Hopkins Center and all the opportunities it brings. There were so many incredible experiences with Dartmouth’s arts alumni and faculty,” Rivard said.
Sugarplum dance group member Margaret de la Fuente ’27 said she was “really excited to have a new space for the arts on campus,” since construction on the Hopkins Center began in December 2022, before the Class of 2027 arrived in Hanover.
“It’s cool to get to practice there and attend performances that weren’t possible before [the Hopkins Center’s] opening,” she explained.
Even students who typically are not involved in the arts connected with the weekend’s event offerings. Sam Starrs ’26 attended a sunrise concert on Oct. 18 on the Connecticut River with cellist and 2025-26 Montgomery Fellow Yo-Yo Ma H’19 and indigenous artists Jeremy Dutcher, Chris Newell ’96 and Mali Obomsawin ’18. Starrs said he enjoyed seeing them perform in a “very humble context” — in the grass on the river, surrounded by a “very respectful” crowd, some of whom were canoeing.
Later that evening, Ma, Dutcher, Obamsawin and Newell performed with Andri Snaer Magnason and special guests Ida Mae Specker, Lauren Stevens and Roger Paul in the Spaulding Auditorium. Their performance, entitled “We Are Water: A Northeast Celebration,” was developed by Ma as part of his work on campus as a Montgomery Fellow — a program funded by the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Endowment that brings “outstanding luminaries” to Dartmouth.
Riann Mohamud ’29 described the variety and distinct combination of artistic talent as unlike anything she had seen before.
“I’ve never seen a mixture of spoken word with poetry, with storytelling, with music,” Mohamud said. “It was the most unique combination of things I’ve seen in a concert.”
The collaborative style of the show created a sense of unity, which was felt throughout the auditorium. Debra Hill ’29 emphasized the connection between the performers and the audience.
Ma “was trying to bring everyone together in that theater and on the stage, just all as one,” she said.
Other events over the weekend included the “Satisfied” film screening with “Hamilton” actress Renée Elise Goldsberry on Oct. 16, Goldsberry’s performance, titled “An Evening with Renée Elise Goldsberry,” on Oct. 17; dance workshops on Oct. 18 and 19; and moderated conversations with alumni in the arts on Oct. 18. Some events, including the acting workshops and a book talk with Shona Rhimes ’91, were open only to students.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, Hopkins Center director of external affairs Michael Bodel wrote that he “could not be more thrilled with the enthusiasm of our community.”
“I was inspired by the generosity of our alumni artists in connecting so deeply with students, in the hundreds that gathered at the crack of dawn to reflect and celebrate the river; at the students who packed the Top of the Hop late into the night,” he continued. “Every corner of the building felt alive and full of potential, and we can’'t wait to keep that energy going!”
Annabelle Zhang '27 is a reporter and editor from New Jersey. In the classroom, she studies Geography and Government modified with Philosophy and Economics. She enjoys creating recipes, solving puzzles and listening to music.
