Virginia Tech Unveils Art Center Plans

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech officials approved plans for a new 130,000-square-foot, $89 million arts center that is planned to meet the performing and visual arts needs of the university and surrounding communities.

  

Scheduled for completion in the summer of 2013, the center will feature a 1,300-seat performance hall, several art galleries and the new Center for Creative Technologies in the Arts.

  

The project includes renovations to existing facilities, including Virginia Tech’s Schultz Hall, and construction of new buildings in downtown Blacksburg. 

  

“Its location at the main entrance to the campus near the center of the Town of Blacksburg symbolizes our commitment to the arts and its importance to the university and to our broader community,” says Ruth Waalkes, executive director for the Center for the Arts.

  

The center’s performance hall will accommodate theater, music and dance exhibitions, while visual arts galleries will house traditional arts and digital media. School officials plan to work closely with the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va., to develop exhibits and educational outreach programs.

  

Members of Virginia Tech’s arts community are also working with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Roanoke’s Jefferson Center and representatives from the Abingdon and Marion theater communities to build collaborative partnerships that will take advantage of the new center’s faculties.

  

The Center for Creative Technologies in the Arts will combine laboratory and studio settings to enhance public education at the primary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels through the exploration of the technological and scientific arts. Within the CCTA, the Collaborative Performance Lab will provide a venue for further analysis of visual and performing arts using interactive technologies.

  

Once complete, arts center will serve not only collegiate students but local K-12 students as well, introducing mediums such as animation, digital audio and film, and graphic and Web design.

  

To fund the new center, Virginia Tech will contribute $33.2 million and the state will provide an additional $27.8 million. A fundraising effort is underway to raise $28 million in private donations.

  

Members of the project design and construction team include architectural firm Snohetta, headquartered in Oslo, Norway; STV Architects of Fairfax, Va.; Holder Construction Co. of Herndon, Va.; global engineering and acoustics firm Arup; and Theatre Projects Consultants of Norwalk, Conn.

  

Construction, which is scheduled to begin this fall, will be completed in conjunction with a major Blacksburg downtown revitalization project.