The Vermont town of Greensboro on Caspian Lake has long been a sanctuary for out-of-state summer residents. Now one of them is giving back to the community he’s visited since he was a child by funding a $14 million arts center.

Andrew Brown wants Highland Center for the Arts to be a welcoming place, said Melanie Clarke, the center’s board chair.

“His aspiration for Highland is quite simple,” she said. “He wants it to be a place for people to gather and participate in the arts.”

The center is scheduled to open June 2-4. Most recently, crews were installing seats and lighting in a 300-capacity theater, built to look like Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

“This is a beautiful theater. This is a really exciting space,” said Amanda Rafuse of Northern Stage theater company. The company is working with the center on its programming to include theater, music, film and fine art.

Greensboro’s population is less than 800 residents but it nearly triples in size in the summer. Alex Aldrich, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council, said the town is known for its “creative pulse.”

Aldrich said a lot of Greensboro’s summer residents go back generations and have strong connections to academia at Ivy League colleges Princeton, Yale and Harvard. Some also settle there after retirement.

“They want to turn this into the summer place that they’ve always wanted,” he said.

He predicts the new center will transform the Caspian Lake, Greensboro and Hardwick areas into a cultural destination.

Rafuse said either way, it’s a substantial gift to the community.

“Coming and participating in the live performing arts is the one place where we get to come together and share an experience,” she said.