With the snipping of a ribbon, the clinking of champagne glasses and the knee-slapping laughter of 1,000 audience members attired in tuxedoes and formal gowns for an evening with late-night talk-show host Jay Leno, Western Carolina University’s long-awaited Fine and Performing Arts Center officially sprang to life Saturday, Oct. 22.

As the highlight of an opening night gala in the new performance hall, Leno delivered a crowd-pleasing performance of comedy material ranging from Michael Jackson jokes to stories about his techno-phobe parents. He also directed some good-natured ribbing at Western students sitting in the first several rows.

Prior to Leno’s performance, Chancellor John W. Bardo dedicated the facility, a building more than 10 years in the planning, to the people of North Carolina. State voters approved funding for the $30 million, 122,000 square-foot showcase for the arts as part of the November 2000 N.C. higher education bond referendum.

“I would like to thank first and foremost the people of North Carolina for providing us with this wonderful facility and for showing such faith in their university,” Bardo said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “The arts are at the core of the quality of life. This building is an effort to enhance the quality of life in Western North Carolina and to assure that the people of this region have access to the finest in art performance available anywhere.”

Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, called the facility an awe-inspiring tribute to the Cherokee people. The facility includes signage in Cherokee and English, and a lobby featuring ceramic tiles in the form of a seven-point star representing the seven Cherokee tribal clans.

“This building is a tremendous honor that you have given our people,” Hicks, a 1987 graduate of Western, said, speaking both in Cherokee and in English. “From my heart, I thank you so much.”

Cullowhee resident A.J. Rowell, a 2004 graduate of Western, spoke about his experiences as a student working to help drum up support for the bond referendum that paid for construction of the building, including a grassroots effort in which he and other students pounded the pavement to rally support.

“We boarded a bus and blitzed the main streets of Western North Carolina. In two days, we went to Waynesville, Canton, Sylva, Franklin, Bryson City, Murphy, Hayesville and Robbinsville. We went door-to-door, person-to-person,” Rowell said. “Every county in Western North Carolina voted in favor of this building, and all the other projects in the bond referendum. I can tell you why. They voted for the students. Indeed, it is the students who will benefit the most from this great hall we open tonight.”