Fraser Valley Arts has recently received two gifts, moving the nonprofit closer to its goal of opening the planned Fraser Center for the Creative Arts.

First, a longtime Fraser resident has offered a legacy gift of $500,000, according to a news release from Fraser Valley Arts. Over the next four years, the benefactor will also match additional donations for the center beyond that sum, up to $1 million total.  

The identity of the resident will be released once the new center is constructed and dedicated, according to the release.

The second gift is $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, the first national-level grant Fraser Valley Arts has received, according to the release.

The nonprofit’s committed assets now exceed $3 million, about half of the money needed to break ground on the arts center. The organization has also gotten a boost from the Founder’s Circle — a program in which local entities pledge a minimum of $30,000 over two years to Fraser Valley Arts.

“These affirmations of the vision of a dynamic Center for the Creative Arts for the Fraser Valley are very encouraging, as are the commitments that 19 other Fraser Valley individuals and organizations have made to our Founder’s Circle, and thousands more have made via their generous donations over the last few years,” Fraser Valley Arts President Steve Fitzgerald stated in the news release.

The nonprofit will build and operate the arts center — which is expected to be a multistory, 16,000-square-foot building with a studio, gallery, classrooms, performing arts space and more — on land donated by the town near the Fraser River.