As construction begins on Western Carolina University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, some are hailing the facility as one of the most important ever built at the university in Cullowhee.

“We really look upon it as a turning point in the school’s history,“ said Robert Vartabedian, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We have high hopes for how it will benefit the university and the community.”

The groundbreaking for the $30 million arts center is Thursday, March 8, and the 121,000-square-foot building is expected to be finished by spring 2003. When complete, it will house classrooms, studios, galleries and support space for students majoring in the arts and humanities. Also included in the plan is a 1,000-seat hall for music and theatrical performances.

Vartabedian is convinced that what WCU is building will be the finest in the region.

“I’ve been studying and reading about fine and performing arts centers throughout the country, and really, this is going to be one of the best,” he said.

Vartabedian and others associated with the university credit the work of Chancellor John Bardo for seeking construction of the new arts center.

“More than anyone else, Dr. Bardo deserves the lion’s share of the praise for his vision and how the Fine and Performing Arts Center could become a reality,” Vartabedian said.

Bardo says the center will help Western as it continues to serve students and the region as a whole.

“We are trying to create a university that is of the mountains and adds value to the mountains,” Bardo said. “Our role is to educate students and serve this region.”

Bardo lists a number of ways the Fine and Performing Arts Center will help WCU: it will attract top students and professors, provide the needed space for the newly approved Masters of Fine Arts program, provide gallery and museum space, and provide a venue for cultural events.

Bringing visual and performing arts, along with humanities programs like creative writing, under one roof will create something unique, according to Vartabedian.

“If I’m interested, as a student, in the creative arts, then this kind of building is going to attract my attention,” Vartabedian said. “I know I will, and think my colleagues will also, try to get as many prospective students as possible into this building.”

But perking the interest of artistic students and being the centerpiece of fine and performing arts in the western part of the state are not the only ways the new center will help the university, Vartabedian said.

“My hopes are that what we accomplish will help the other colleges,” Vartabedian said, referring to the social sciences and natural sciences. “There are lots of students with diverse interest. Like business majors who are also interested in music. And then there are prospective faculty members who have spouses look ing for things like this.”

Rep. Phil Haire (D-Sylva), a former trustee at Western Carolina University who represents the 52nd House District in the state General Assembly, is also excited about what the arts center will bring to the region. In addition to helping the university attract students and professors, he sees it serving as a cornerstone in the burgeoning travel industry.

“I think we have a sophisticated tourist market up in the mountains, as opposed to high-volume places like Myrtle Beach or Six Flags,” Rep. Haire said. “It’s kind of a stable tourist colony of seasonal residents, if you will. These people look for an need things to do in the summertime, and there will be nothing like this in the entire region.”

The regional economic benefits of the center are also important to Bardo.

“We know that if people will spend the night here when they travel, that is a key to the tourism industry. The shows, exhibits and events at this center will increase those overnight stays,” Bardo said.
Haire said the Fine and Performing Arts Center will make WCU a legitimate place for organizations like ballet troupes and symphonies to have summer residencies and performances.

“When you have this kind of class facility, all these things are possible,” Haire said.

Bardo said critics of spending so much money on an arts center should look closely at what it is universities do. Teaching is the core role, he said, but it is much broader.

“For us to look narrowly at the role of a university is to miss the broader mission to serve students and the region,” Bardo said.

The Fine and Performing Arts Center is one of 17 projects on tap at Western over the next eight years. Other construction and renovation projects will include a new 300-bed residence hall, upgrades to outdated science laboratories and classrooms, and major infrastructure improvements. Passage of the statewide bond package will bring a total of $98.4 million in construction and renovation to WCU, creating a construction boom unprecedented in the university’s 112-year history.

In addition to the building projects, WCU is also slated to increase its enrollment by almost 3,000 students and add up to 500 new employees over the next decade.

Western is able to proceed quickly on construction of the arts center because design and site preparation work, including the extension of utilities to the site, has already been completed through previous appropriations by the N.C. General Assembly. Haire said the center has already been the recipient of two separate $2 million appropriations.

 

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