Salt Lake Community College Unveils Media Center

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) debuted its new Center for Arts and Media (CAM) in early November at South City Campus in Salt Lake City. The new 130,000-square-foot center houses SLCC programs, such as journalism, television broadcast production, music technology, and recording and visual arts, for about 9,000 students.

Locally based GSBS Architects served as the architect, while San Francisco-based Charles M. Salter Associates designed the studios, as well as the acoustic and audiovisual technologies within them.

The entire project took about four years since conception, said Frank Baker, project manager at SLCC. The idea developed when faculty realized that there was a need for more advanced technologies to better teach new media and performing arts classes, so the new building was created to house the department’s requirements for the latest training. It increased the space area for advanced teaching capabilities as well as the increased student population.

The center’s modern sound, film and digital animation studios are the highlights of the building, allowing for teaching as well as the ability to host special guests. For instance, the 46-seat film screening room, which features a cinema-quality resolution projector, has already attracted attention from the Sundance Institute. The film stage is a miniature version of a sound stage that is used by major filmmaking studios, complete with catwalks and 70 half-ton chain hoists used for set lighting and equipment. The television production studio has room for up to 20 students in the control room, and the stage for this area is 2,000 square feet with six hoists for lighting and scenes. The building also houses 22 editing suites, as well as three larger classrooms to encourage student collaboration on film, television and sound projects.

The Communication Department, Visual Art & Design Department, Performing Arts Department and Fashion and Interior Design programs at SLCC all use the space. The Communication Department sponsors and directs the Mass Communication Center, which provides valuable real-world experience via student-produced media: The Globe Newspaper (print and online), MCC-TV (video), Radio SLCC (audio/radio) and SLCCTV (broadcast television).

Funding for the $45 million project came from a collaborative effort between SLCC, the Utah State Legislature, the SLCC Student Association and Salt Lake City School District (SLCSD). At the time of development, the legislature was exploring ways to encourage statewide student enrollment as well as improve Utah’s influence on the film industry. In fact, demand for programs in the high-tech and creative industries has been increasing by about 8.5 percent per year in Utah. The state has been adding about 1,200 jobs each year in those industries.

As a result, the project received $21 million from the legislature, $10 million from SLCC, $6.9 million from the SLCC Student Association and $6.6 million from SLCSD. In addition to these funding sources, the school also received a grant from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation in the amount of $100,000 and $14,000 from the R. Harold Burton Foundation, as reported by The Globe.

The new center not only provides several new learning opportunities for students but for the community as a whole. For instance, students from SLCSD’s Innovations High School, which is physically adjoined to the new building, can take classes at the college. The public galleries and exhibit space are also available for members of the public to peruse.

Baker said that the most challenging aspect of the project involved working around occupied spaces and accommodating seismic challenges. Several windows and daylighting techniques were incorporated into the building, which was designed to LEED standards.