UC Santa Cruz will celebrate the arts and a commitment to collaboration, innovation, and community on Thursday, April 29, when the campus officially opens its new Digital Arts Research Center.
Chancellor George Blumenthal and Dean of the Arts David Yager will host a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3:15 p.m, before inviting everyone into the new three-story building to explore the many facets of the Arts Division at UCSC.
"It's really a celebration of the arts-we're going to have presentations and exhibits of student and faculty work from all the departments of the Arts Division," Yager noted.
Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson--the same architectural firm that created Pixar Studios--the new 26,000 square-foot Digital Arts Research Center will serve as a social and intellectual hub for UCSC's Arts Division.
The building now provides a home for the Digital Arts and New Media M.F.A. program, as well as the digital photography and printing studio, music research labs, drawing and photography classes, and faculty studios.
"The center allows us to present things in a way we could never do before," said Yager. "When you put faculty members in research labs next to other faculty, that are also next to students working in classrooms, a different kind of community develops. At the opening, people will get a chance to see how the building functions in a creative way for both student and faculty research."
The April 29 celebration will include a preview of "Things That Are Possible," this year's Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) M.F.A. exhibition, which runs April 30 through May 9 at the new center. The exhibit spotlights the research of 14 graduate students whose works make use of advanced technologies for both creative potential and social impact.
Guests will also be treated to demos of electronic music, film, and art projects, displays of work from costume and set design classes, plus mini-lectures by arts faculty.
Theater Arts professor Danny Scheie will additionally offer a short preview piece from the groundbreaking rock musical Hair, which will be presented by the department in the last two weeks of May at UCSC's Mainstage Theater.
"It's a great opportunity to talk to artists, faculty, and students, and see the diversity of the kinds of things they might do here in the Arts Division," said Yager. "Everyone's excited about the future of this building, so come and have fun, and enjoy the arts."
The Grand Opening of UCSC's new Digital Arts Research Center takes place on Thursday, April 29, from 3 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served. Parking will be available in the Performing Arts parking lot. For more information and detailed directions, visit Arts website.
