Venue: REDCAT
Town: Los Angeles, US

Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) is an interdisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts in downtown Los Angeles, California, located inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Named for Roy O. Disney and his wife, it was opened in November 2003 as an extension of the California Institute of the Arts' mission into downtown Los Angeles. The art center consists of a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) gallery space, a 200-270-seat flexible black box theater, and a lounge/cafe/bar. As the Walt Disney Concert Hall began construction in 1992, Roy E. Disney, son of Roy O. and Edna Disney, saw an opportunity for the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Santa Clarita to have a presence in downtown Los Angeles. With the financial support of The Walt Disney Company and the County of Los Angeles, the Concert Hall’s architect, Frank Gehry, whose children graduated from CalArts, was asked to design the new venue as part of the complex. Patty and Roy E. Disney personally matched the Disney Company’s gift and named the facility after his parents Edna and Roy O. Disney who built The Walt Disney Company with younger brother Walt, and after his death, ensured that his greatest wish and achievement, the construction and launching of CalArts' campus, was completed. At the time of REDCAT’s conception in the early 1990s, then CalArts President Steven D. Lavine cited the pairing of experimentation in the arts with a public space for artist-community engagement as the primary consideration for the venue design and its role as a laboratory for the Institute. Lavine noted the Cottesloe Theatre in London as a model for its high caliber renegade experimentation. Lavine additionally expressed an institutional ambition for CalArts to contribute to the local community and participate in a broader dialogue about emerging forms of art and performance. The aim was to offer Los Angeles residents exposure to innovative art forms more consistently