The Story

College Researches New Arts Facility

Sep. 11, 2008 | By Isabelle Cohen, DSJ Staff Reporter

The College has launched a feasibility study for a new arts facility, to incorporate the departments of music, theater, dance, studio art and art history as well as the Muscarelle Museum in the same building.

The proposed location is the present site of the Muscarelle Museum, Phi Beta Kappa Hall and Andrews Hall.

�"Andrews Hall and PBK Hall are both aging structures.” Explained Dean of Arts and Science Carl Strikwerda. Andrews Hall is over 40 years old. While discussing the possibility of renovating just Andrews, he said, �"we realized that we should look at the whole program.”

Aaron DeGraff, the director of the Muscarelle Museum, "has been the biggest catalyst behind the study,” Strikwerda said.

Meetings have already commenced for a committee made up of representatives from each department, the Muscarelle, facilities management and the dean of education.

One of the most important proposed changes would be moving the entire department of music from Ewell Hall to the new facility.

�"The department of music has grown tremendously over the past decade or two,” said Professor of Music Brian Hulse, a member of the committee assigned to the study.

�"We service hundreds of students per semester between the courses, music lessons and ensembles we offer. To say we are bursting at the seams is an understatement,” Hulse said.

�"Our current facilities simply don't meet our needs and do not measure up to or represent the quality of the department,” Hulse continued. �"We are hurting for offices and studios, and our classrooms have paper-thin walls - so, sound from other parts of the building bleed through. Perhaps most critically, our outstanding choirs, orchestra, wind, jazz and non-Western music ensembles sorely need a decent concert hall to perform in.”

According to Strikwerda, the committee is discussing separating the concert hall and theater, mostly for acoustic reasons.

Thursday, Sept. 11, the chief architect for the study, Barton Myers, will come to campus to look at the site.

�"Myers knows William and Mary very well,” Strikwerda said. �"His great-great-grandfather graduated from William and Mary.”

Myers was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He is the president of Barton Myers Associates, Inc., a Los Angeles architecture firm.

The biggest advantage of the new building, according to Strikwerda, �"is that it integrates the departments.” He said that it would entail �"art history students studying in the Museum, and the theatre and dance departments right next to each other.”

Strikwerda stressed that right now the idea is "under study" - in the most preliminary stages. The next step will involve the architects' visit to campus to examine the space.

"The architects come and they basically ask a lot of questions,” Strikwerda explained. �"They make estimates about the best way to put a building on the site.”

The architects will compare the location to the space needs requested by the various departments.

The project faces financial questions. The college of arts and sciences, the Muscarelle Museum and the central administration are financing the feasibility study.

The price of the study is negligible compared to the cost of the project itself, whether it involves knocking down either one or two buildings - or all three.

�"It will take years to raise money and construct the buildings,” said Strikwerda. �"We’re hoping for some combination of direct state support, private funding and bonds.”

�"I think the pay-off for William and Mary in centralizing its arts with a world-class facility will be enormous,” said Hulse. �"It will certainly boost our image and increase our competitiveness. I think it is the 'jewel' our campus really needs.”

Hulse added, �"I think this is a project that our entire community, students, faculty, and alumni can rally around.”

The committee members are Strikwerda; Dean of Education Kim Phillips; Director of Planning Design and Construction Wayne Boy; Professor of Music Bryan Hulse; Chair of Theatre, Speech and Dance Steve Holliday and Professor of Art and Art History Barbara Watkinson.