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JACOB SANTOS
Special to The Leader
Since May 2014, much has been brewing at the Rockefeller Arts Center with the construction of the building’s new addition. For years, there have been dreams to create more functional spaces to better suit the skills and talent of visual and performing arts students.
At the beginning of the Fall semester, that dream became reality. The construction is near completion and is accessible for students to practice, perform and learn in the expanded 60,000-square-foot add-on, as well as the 40,000-square-foot renovation of existing spaces.
On Friday, Oct. 21, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the dedication that made the new expansion possible. Hundreds gathered inside the addition’s spacious interior to witness the event. A large pair of scissors emerged from the crowd, sparking an enthusiastic uproar from students, faculty, politicians and alumni.
The ribbon was cut collectively by President Virginia Horvath, President Emeritus Dennis Hefner, architect Deborah Berke, New York State Sen. Catharine Young, Fredonia College Council Chair Frank Pagano and Jacqueline Chiarot Phelps, the regional director of Congressman Tom Reed’s office, as they together held the sizable black-handled scissors.
The cutting of the ribbon was immediately followed by exuberant African drumming, performed by the Fredonia African Drumming Ensemble, whose members all wore “Fredonia blue” colored dashikis. The drummers led the crowd into the Robert W. Marvel Theatre, where the program continued.
Followed was an excerpt from the Hillman Opera performances of “Dido and Aeneas” and “The Medium,” performed by Lucia Helgren and Jay Romero. A collection of speakers who made the RAC addition possible assembled afterward, as well as Fredonia students Nicole Miller and Mark Chmiel, who voiced their joy to work and practice in the remarkable new spaces.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Horvath. “This studio complex is really a way to make better spaces that are behind the scenes.”
The Rockefeller Arts Center, designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, was first completed in 1969. The building was named after the youngest son of former Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, who disappeared in 1961 during an anthropological expedition in New Guinea.
The building’s original design primarily consisted of prominent spaces for performances, such as the awe-inspiring King Concert Hall. However, there was a growing need for better space to allow students to practice and apply their skills and talent.
Much of the original spaces designed for students to practice their skills and talent were improvised, and most of the construction in 1969 was focused on performing spaces.
“A lot of the [art] programs had outgrown the academic space in the Rockefeller Arts Center,” said Hefner, who served as Fredonia’s president from 1996 to 2012. “We needed an addition.”
For years, the acting studio in the building’s basement was intended to be used as a classroom. The space had large pillars, making it difficult to rehearse around the poles. Furthermore, students studying dance practiced in the only dance studio on campus, which was placed in Dods Hall, across the street from the RAC.
The addition was designed by architect Deborah Berke, who is a well-known architect and the founder of Deborah Berke Partners in New York City. Recently this summer, she became dean of the Yale School of Architecture, the first woman to hold the position.
Berke has a reputation working with old buildings, giving them a modern look that is functional yet complementary to the original. She helped design interior spaces for apartments in 432 Park Ave. in New York City, and is currently working on designs for the H.H. Richardson building in Buffalo to make it a hotel and conference center.
“We were honored to be selected to design [the addition],” said Berke. “We were inspired by I.M. Pei’s concrete volumes, and riff on them with our own love for steel and glass.”
Berke and her partners noticed board-formed concrete, a process of patterned concrete that leaves a wood grain image on the finished surface, used in much of the space Pei designed for the Rockefeller Arts Center, as well as McEwen Hall and the Williams Center. Therefore, the architecture in the addition features that same style of concrete, but with the grooves on a slant.
Many politicians involved were present at the ribbon-cutting, such as State Sen. Young, a Fredonia alumna, representing the Senate District 57.
“ [As a student] the talent and synergy in this building was always phenomenal. And that continues today in a broader way,” said Young. “The state [of New York] was able to invest $44.7 million to make these improvements. We worked very hard at Albany to deliver the funds right here at SUNY Fredonia.”
For years, many assumed the addition would be a longtime dream when SUNY announced a plan to only have one new building, and a little renovation money.
“There was a lot of lobbying to make ways to have Fredonia get these buildings,” said Hefner. “I remember the day Sen. Young called me, that this new addition had made it into the final bill. It was one of the most exciting days of my life. I actually did a happy dance in the President’s Office.”
Most people can agree that the funding from New York state was given to SUNY Fredonia because the focus on the project was on the academics — to better the students and their education. For many, it’s exciting to see what all the additions and renovations to the Rockefeller Arts Center have to offer for current and future students in years to come.