The Hopkins Center, Hanover, New Hampshire

The Hopkins Center in Hanover, New Hampshire

Architects: Snøhetta

Location: Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Photos by Alexa Bendek

October 8, 2025

After two-and-a-half years of construction, the $123.8 million expansion and renewal of the Hopkins Center for the Arts will usher in a new era of arts at Dartmouth with a grand opening celebration Oct. 16-19 offering live music and dance, including a world premiere with Yo-Yo Ma, master classes, and other star-studded performances.

“I am thrilled to celebrate the return of the Hop as the gateway to our vibrant Arts District and as a testament to the central importance the arts hold for the Dartmouth community, now and for generations to come,” says President Sian Leah Beilock. “The Hop is setting a new standard of excellence for what the arts can do in an academic community.”

The weekend will feature a dynamic array of events to showcase the transformation of the performing arts center, including concerts, dance companies, workshops, performances by student groups, art exhibitions, and site-specific events, many of which will be free and open to the community. Highlights will include the world-premiere musical performance curated specially for the grand opening weekend as well as a series of master classes for Dartmouth students featuring accomplished alumni in the arts.

The formal dedication of the new, 15,000-square-foot Daryl and Steven Roth Wing takes place on Friday afternoon with remarks by President Beilock, Mary Lou Aleskie, the Howard Gilman ’44 Executive Director of the Hop, and actor, writer, and producer Mindy
Kaling ’01. On Saturday, the community is invited to celebrate with a free picnic on the Green, featuring live musical performances.

A Festival of Featured Performances
Among the weekend’s performances: the premiere with Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Newell ’96, Mali Obomsawin ’18, and Jeremy Dutcher of We Are Water: A Northeast Celebration, curated for the opening of the Hop and developed in collaboration with the departments of Native American and Indigenous studies, music, anthropology, and geography and the Native American Program, Sustainability Office, and Dartmouth house communities.

The evening of songs and stories pays tribute to how the waters of the Connecticut River connect the region’s people to the past, present, and future.

Renée Elise Goldsberry brings her artistry in a radiant concert that celebrates the magic of live performance—drawing on her history with groundbreaking works like Rent (which was incubated at Dartmouth) and Hamilton. The weekend also includes a screening of Satisfied, a candid documentary about the award-winning Broadway star’s multidimensional life.

And Pilobolus, the pioneering dance company that got its start in a Dartmouth dance class in the original Hop in 1971, performs what they describe as a “site-specific adventure” through the building to activate the Hop’s new spaces.

For students, late-night after parties and master classes give access to some of the leading performing artists and creators among Dartmouth’s alumni community, including Mindy Kaling ’01, Shonda Rhimes ’91, Rachel Dratch ’88, Sharon Washington ’81, David
Benioff ’92, Pilobolus, and others. Kaling and Rhimes, two trailblazing alums who participated in the arts at Dartmouth, will discuss their craft and creative lives in a fireside chat.

“We’re planning a festival-like weekend that will have something for everyone and celebrate the extraordinary new performance and rehearsal spaces that will allow the Hop to be a platform for creative engagement,” says Aleskie, the Hop director.

Gateway to a Dynamic Arts District
“You don’t have to be an artist to feel creative and be here and be part of the community,” Aleskie says. “The Hop is a place for people. The thing I’m most excited about is that we now have capabilities that allow us to put the agency of creation into the hands of others.”

Throughout the weekend, the public will be able to explore the revitalized Top of the Hop, Spaulding Auditorium, Moore Theater, and student workshops as well as the Roth Wing—home to the world-class Jack 1953 and Mac 2011 Morris Recital Hall; the Hodgson Family Dance Studio, the Hop’s first dedicated dance studio; and the Daryl Roth Studio Theater, a versatile, high-tech space capable of supporting any artistic vision and audience configuration.

And the community is invited to open houses across the Arts District—including the Hood Museum of Art, which reopened in 2019 after a major expansion and renovation; the Black Family Visual Arts Center, dedicated in 2012; The Warehouse, a laboratory for
sonic arts that opened this fall; and the Literary Arts Bridge, which opened this spring. The reimagined Hop also strengthens the opportunities for curricular engagement and creative production between students and faculty from the departments of Music and
Theater, contributing to the vitality of the arts at Dartmouth, says Interim Dean of Arts and Sciences Nina Pavcnik.

It was designed by internationally renowned firm Snøhetta and incorporates the essence of the original 1962 Wallace Harrison design—whose architectural elements informed the Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House—while fully updating the building for the 21st century.

‘Warming Up’ the Building
Though major construction is wrapping up in June, the Hop will remain closed to the public as technical teams install and test specialized equipment, digital lighting systems, and acoustics in preparation for faculty and students to move into the space in September.

“What we’ve been saying is that artists need time to warm up, and so do buildings,” Aleskie says. “When September comes, we will be welcoming students and faculty for classes and rehearsals, and periodically inviting the general public for tours and special events that will allow us to warm up with an audience, as a prelude to the official opening in October.”

Among these “prelude” events: the New York Theatre Workshop’s annual work-in-progress readings featuring Montgomery Fellow Anna Deavere Smith, Aug. 1; the Telluride at Dartmouth film festival, Sept. 17-22; and Firebird, an immersive sound and light installation by Dutch collective Touki Delphine, Sept. 24-27.

The Hopkins Center in New Hampshire, USA – Building Information

Architecture: Snøhetta – https://www.snohetta.com/

Timeline
Construction: Winter 2022–Fall 2025
Warm-up Period: September & October 2025 (open to Dartmouth student and faculty activities)
Grand Opening: October 16–19
Full public programming: January 2026

Original Architecture: Harrison and Abramovitz
Originally opened: 1962

Renovation Footprint
A 15,000-square-foot expansion and a transformation of an additional 55,000 square feet of existing space.

Design Approach
Build on the Hop’s historic legacy and architecture to bring together artists and audiences; support interdisciplinary creation and
research; expand programmatic and student capacities; connect surrounding arts buildings; improve accessibility, mobility and a sense of welcome.

Cost
$123.8 million

Funding Source
Dartmouth and its community of alumni, donors and supporters. The Hop Project was a pillar of Dartmouth’s “The Call to Lead” campaign.

Sustainability
>25% projected savings in energy consumption despite ~10% increase in overall square footage. Made possible by installing energy-efficient heating, cooling and smart lighting systems.

The Dartmouth Arts District
The Hop renovation and expansion marks the launch of the Dartmouth Arts District, which includes the Hopkins Center, the Hood Museum of Art (redesigned by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects in 2019), and the Black Family Visual Arts Center (completed in 2012 by the design firm Machado Silvetti) and the Dartmouth academic arts departments.

Photographs: Alexa Bendek

The Hopkins Center, Hanover, New Hampshire images/information received 081025

More New Hampshire Buildings online soon

New Hampshire Architecture

New New Hampshire Building Design – recent property selection from e-architect:

Hood Museum of Art Building Renovation, Dartmouth College, Hanover
Date built: 1985
Original Building Design: Charles Moore Architect
New Building Design: Billie Tsien and Tod Williams

image courtesy Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
Hood Museum of Art Building Renovation

Phillips Exeter Academy Library, Exeter
Dates built: 1967-72
Design: Louis Kahn architect

photo by Rohmer at en.wikipedia
Modern New Hampshire Building