Commencement

Loyola holds 11 different commencement ceremonies over two weeks in May. With the conversion of the Gentile Gymnasium to a 4,000-seat arena, the entire look and feel of Commencement needed to be re-thought and, at the direction of the President, “classed up.” We created an overall Loyola look for the environment that could easily be customized for each school. Significant cost savings were seen by utilizing drapery and staging already purchased for Founders’ Dinner.  Because we were able to have a “seat at the table” in the design of the arena (flexible lighting and sound, a black ceiling that “disappears” at events and built-in sectional drapery), we were able to create a beautiful environment for the university’s most important event. We constantly heard, “I can’t believe this is an arena!”