as the walt disney concert hall came under construction in 1992, roy e. disney, son of roy o. and edna disney, saw an opportunity for california institute of the arts in valencia, ca to have a presence downtown. with the approval of the walt disney company's board of directors and support from the county of los angeles, the project's lead architect, frank gehry, whose children also graduated from calarts, was tasked to design the new venue. roy disney and his wife patty personally matched the disney company gift for redcat's construction and, to extend the memory of roy o. disney who built the walt disney company with walt and oversaw the construction of calarts' campus, dedicated the new art center to his parents' name. calarts president steven d. lavine cites the pairing of high caliber renegade experimentation and a social space for artist-community engagement, especially those in london (e.g. the cottesloe theatre as part of the royal national theatre), as a pointed consideration for the venue design and its conception as an institutional laboratory.