Utah State University’s Manon Caine Russell and Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall opened in January 2006, and has seen thousands of performances since. On Jan. 14, the performance hall celebrated their 20th anniversary.
The Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall has hosted world-renowned artists, guest lecturers, and of course, USU students; but none of it would’ve been possible if it weren’t for the generosity of two sisters.
Growing up in Logan at the foot of Old Main Hill, Manon Caine Russell and Kathryn Caine Wanlass held a deep love and appreciation for the arts and their hometown university.
Both USU graduates, the sisters chose to give back to their community in 1981, when they co-founded the Marie Eccles Caine Charitable Foundation — named in honor of their mother.
The foundation has made many donations across northern Utah, but their largest — amounting to a collective $12 million — was to USU in 2005.
The donation funded the creation of the now 20-year-old performance hall.
The hall’s 20th anniversary hosted former university president Stan Albrecht, who thanked the sisters for their lasting impact on the university.
“These two wonderful sisters believed that the arts enrich and define the communities in which we live, just as they enrich and help define the communities on our university campuses,” Albrecht said.
The Marie Eccles Caine Charitable Foundation survives the sisters and continues to support art education. Last October, the foundation funded the establishment of the Caine Endowed Directorship in the Caine School of the Arts.
The newly appointed director of the Caine School of the Arts, Nicholas Morrison, spoke on their legacy.
“Their passion was to make others successful, they always use their resources to support other people," Morrison said. "They understood the importance of music and the arts, and they could use their resources to support those activities and the people who made them possible. So they were really the fuel behind the advancement of the arts at Utah State University.”
Morrison explained that the sisters were extremely involved in the design and creation of the performance hall, and attended nearly every performance the venue hosted.
“It was really a labor of love from both Catherine and Manon,” Morrison said.
