JORDAN PATTERSON
Assistant News Editor
The nearly $40 million Rockefeller Arts Center project continues, with all classrooms in the building expected to be fully functional by January,
The approximately 40,000 square-foot new addition includes two brand new dance studios, ceramics and sculpture studios, two acting classrooms and a dedicated shop for painting set pieces. Classes opened in the new addition of the art building, but classes in the old wing were moved around campus due to ongoing renovations. Due to the renovations on the second and third floor of old Rockefeller classes will remain elsewhere.
During the current Fall semester, there will be a “phase-in” leading up to Rockefeller’s opening. At the start of the semester, the new addition was open for classes including scene and costume shops in the old structure.
The second and third floors of the original structure are being renovated but will be finished in time for the official unveiling set to take place Oct. 21 through 23, during Homecoming weekend. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony and a program in Marvel Theater with numerous speakers.
“I’m very excited about this because it feature the work areas of art,” said President Virginia Horvath. “The new spaces in Rockefeller Arts Center showcase what is distinctive about studying the arts at Fredonia: the quality of the professional training for those who perform on stage and those who work behind the scenes.”
The central idea with this project was to bring arts programs under the same roof. The dance program will be able to move into Rockefeller out of Dods Hall, while computer labs used in illustration and design courses have left McEwen Hall.
“This project addresses the current needs of our visual and performing arts programs for more and better space, allows us to grow and brings nearly all of the arts programs into one complex,” said Ralph Blasting, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Horvath expressed her gratitude for the architects who headed this project, Deborah Berke Partners.
“[They] did a wonderful job… it’s consistent with the design of the rest of the building.”
Horvath was pleased with what they paid, around $39 million, for the end results, which she called “impressive.”
Senior BFA sculpture major Julian Perez was also impressed with the new addition. Perez mentioned how having a separate room for the clay mixer and the glaze room is much more convenient.
“The new wing has been more accommodating in terms of workspace,” Perez said. “I now have more room for larger projects and more room to make my studio space homey and my own.”