WATERVILLE — A longtime Colby College supporter is donating $2 million for a contemporary art gallery in a downtown arts center planned by Colby and Waterville Creates! at 93 Main St., college officials announced.

The donor is Colby Trustee Emeritus Paul J. Schupf, who received an honorary degree from the college in 2006. Schupf has given several significant contributions to Colby in the past, making possible the Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Works of Alex Katz, and the Paul J. Schupf Sculpture Court at the Colby College Museum of Art; the Paul J. Schupf Scientific Computing Center; the Anthony-Mitchell-Schupf residence hall; and the Colby College-Memorial Sloan Kettering Summer Internship.

Schupf, a collector, has also donated numerous works of art, including pieces by Katz and a gift of more than 150 works on paper by Richard Serra.

Colby and Waterville Creates! are trying to raise $18 million to $20 million to transform The Center at 93 Main St. into a thriving art and film center, including the contemporary art gallery on the first floor and a relocated Railroad Square Cinema with new equipment and seating on the second.

The gallery, to be named after Schupf, allows the Colby art museum to expand into downtown Waterville, Colby officials said in a statement.

As part of the downtown arts complex, the Schupf gallery will feature a rotating program of contemporary art exhibitions. Regularly scheduled gallery events will be held in the space.

“The Schupf gallery will be a vital part of the new center for contemporary art and film, which has been conceived to create a hub of activity on Main Street and cement Waterville’s place as a destination for the arts,” Colby President David A. Greene said in the statement. “Once again, Paul Schupf has given so generously to help make art accessible to the Waterville community and visitors from Maine and beyond.”

Schupf is an emeritus member of the Colby College Museum of Art’s board of governors and served as a college trustee for many years.

“Starting in 1985 with President Bill Cotter and museum director Hugh J. Gourley III, I became entranced by the wonderful, adventurous Colby College Museum of Art,” Schupf said in the statement. “When David Greene discussed with me the possibility of creating a gallery in Waterville, I jumped on board immediately. The donation of the Paul J. Schupf gallery for contemporary art in downtown Waterville is just another manifestation of my admiration for the college and its museum.”

On March 5, Colby and Waterville Creates! announced plans to transform the downtown building to help make Waterville a singular destination for the arts in Maine. The project will feature new and renovated space to support leading programs in visual arts, theater, film and arts education.

The larger complex will include the Waterville Opera House, Common Street Arts, the Maine Film Center and the cinema. It is expected to attract even more visitors to Main Street, anchored by a hotel Colby plans to build a block from Castonguay Square and Colby’s Bill and Joan Alfond Main Street Commons, which is expected to house 200 Colby students, faculty and staff at 150 Main St.

Colby also bought and renovated 173 Main St. across the street from the Commons. The former Waterville Savings Bank building houses software consultant CGI Group, Colby employees and a student business incubator.

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