The Woodruff Arts Center announced today that it has received a $5 million gift from the James M. Cox Foundation, the latest major contribution to the Arts Center's Transformation Campaign.

With the Cox Foundation grant, more than $94.8 million has been raised toward the $100 million campaign goal. The Transformation Campaign was launched in 2015 to dramatically increase endowments, renovate the Alliance Theatre and Memorial Arts Building and provide greater access to the arts for families.

"We are extraordinarily grateful to the Cox Foundation for this wonderful grant," said Virginia Hepner, president and chief executive officer of the Woodruff Arts Center. "The generosity of the Cox Foundation and the Cox family has been instrumental in the success of the Woodruff Arts Center, the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for decades. This new grant is another wonderful example of their enduring commitment to the city of Atlanta and its arts."

"The Woodruff Arts Center plays such an important role in our community," said Alex Taylor, Cox Enterprises' executive vice president and great-grandson of company founder James M. Cox. "This grant builds upon our family's passionate commitment to Atlanta, including my grandmother's unwavering support of the High."

The Transformation Campaign focuses on three areas: endowment funding, which will benefit all of the arts partners, accounts for $56 million of the $100 million goal; $35 million will be allocated for capital improvements, primarily for the Alliance Theatre renovation and critical improvements to the Memorial Arts Building; and $9 million in funding for expanded family-oriented programming and greater activation of the Arts Center's campus.

The campaign is targeted for completion by the end of 2016.