Designed by the architectural firm of world-renowned architect I. M. Pei – Pei Cobb Freed & Partners – the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center opened for its first season in 2003. The Touhill brings the performing arts to the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) campus community and to audiences from the St. Louis area and across the Midwest. It also serves as a an academic laboratory for the UMSL College of Fine Arts and Communication (CoFAC).