BYU Fine Arts College to hold centennial celebration at new building
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- The new art building at BYU is pictured.
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- The new art building at BYU is pictured.
Brigham Young University’s College of Fine Arts and Communications is inviting alumni and other visitors to check out its new digs and celebrate a significant anniversary from 6-10 p.m. Saturday in Provo.
The Arts Building, replacing the former Harris Fine Arts Center, opened this fall, catering to students in the art, design, theater and media arts departments. The new era will also serve as a centennial celebration marking the establishment of the first fine arts college in the Intermountain West at BYU in 1925.
“It was the first of its kind,” said Suzanne Campbell, an assistant dean of external relations in the college. “Back in the day when it first started, I think there were maybe 100 students within the college. And now, we’re in the neighborhood of 3,300 students. So obviously, a lot of growth has happened, and different departments within that college have joined the College of Fine Arts along the way.”
When The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Spencer W. Kimball gave his “Second Century Address” at BYU in 1975, Campbell said he prophesied there would be rising stars in the arts at the university. She said that has been manifested today.
“We have a world-class design program, a world-class art program,” she said. “The School of Communication is part of the Fine Arts College and has won things like ADDY awards and Emmy awards. Animation, which falls under design, has won several awards. You see the dance program, which is world renowned. The ballroom dance team just won the Blackpool Festival. So we really are seeing a superior level of performance and expertise among our students.”
The school hopes to continue that success into the next century inside the new building. The facility features 28 classrooms, 29 studios, 12 labs, six galleries, four theaters, four rehearsal spaces and more than 275,000 square feet of instruction and performance space.
The building will hold the college’s administrative offices and is anticipated to host more than 500 performances annually.
“You have a studio theater, which is very configurable, which the HVAC lacked,” Campbell said. “It has the ability to really transform the theater space into the type of space that one would need for a specific performance. And then you also have the black box theater, which is student led and student run, and so that’s called the experimental theater, where students can really take ownership of that space for the shows that they’re producing.”
Those who come Saturday evening will be able to see the full scope of the building and take in performances from various departments in the college.
“You will be able to see a first sneak peek at a BYU play and original production called “All the Beautiful Things,” which is a play based on true interviews of people returning to their faith from all sorts of different religions. So that is being previewed in one of the theaters,” Campbell said.
The event is $5 and is recommended for ages 12 and older.
