A Fine Arts Center It Is

The building known for many years to countless visitors as the Calvin College Fine Arts Center that housed academic offices and the actual Fine Arts Center auditorium has been transformed into what looks like an entirely new state-of-the-art facility.

College officials had been discussing renovating the facility, which opened in 1966, for about three years, and then closed it down to begin work in May 2009.

According to Calvin College officials, the $15 million renovation added 40,000 square feet of space to the original 84,000 square-foot FAC. But the price tag—money that has come largely from an overall capital campaign for the college—and the additional square footage hardly start to tell the story.

Journalists had a chance late last week to take a tour of the new facility prior to this week’s public open house and grand opening.

Classrooms have been added or updated and rebuilt, areas for the music department have been substantially enhanced, and a recital hall has been constructed.

But among the most striking changes is an expansive public lobby, containing a prominent staircase, large windows, comfortable furniture and a sculpted rock presented as a gift by the anonymous donor who helped to underwrite the renovation and expansion.

Striking as well is the 3,800-square-foot, glass-enclosed Center Art Gallery that is just off the lobby and will be able to feature a wide range of works and exhibitions.

"This gives us much more space and flexibility. We've gone from one to three gallery spaces," said Joel Zwart, director of exhibitions, during the recent tour for journalists. "My hope is that this will be more of a campus gallery. I'm really excited about our ability to share art with so many people."

The exhibition space houses two galleries for displaying a rotating selection from Calvin’s 1,500-strong, permanent collection and a larger gallery—whose 33-foot walls are capped with a light well—for temporary exhibitions.

Until now, the gallery was housed elsewhere in a less prominent location.

Phil Beezhold, director of Calvin's physical plant, says employees of his office did a portion of the work, especially the trim work and other more intricate projects, in the new building that is to be called the Covenant Fine Arts Center.

As he left the lobby and started to give a tour of the rest of the facility, he mentioned the satisfaction he felt at the work that has been done and how the center will be able to better serve the needs of both the public and Calvin faculty and students.

They have made what was already a valuable community and college asset that much better, he said as he walked along a hallway in which workers were putting the final touches on classroom floors, countertops, and staircases.

The renovation, he said, makes the center both more personal for students, especially music students, and more accessible to all visitors with the addition of ramps, elevators, and wider hallways.

Essentially, the renovated and expanded center is divided in half, with the west side primarily containing public spaces and the upper level and east side dedicated to academic space, Beezhold said as he led visitors into an area housing the offices for music department faculty.

He showed visitors one of the teaching classrooms that have been created for music faculty.

Robert Nordling, conductor of the Calvin College Orchestra and Calvin Alumni Orchestra, showed visitors his spacious, high-ceilinged office. He has enough area to address his own academic needs as well as have students bring in and play their instruments as part of a class. "Studio teaching will be vastly improved by this," he said.

Nordling teaches in the areas of music history, conducting and music and worship. He also serves as Resource Development Specialist for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

Beezhold then took visitors on a tour of the new 240-seat recital hall, the teaching and performance space for the 500-some students who play in Calvin's band, orchestra and string quartets, and sing in choral ensembles. He also pointed out expanded “piano garages,” special rooms in which pianos are stored and protected.

He also offered a look at what he referred to as the "Green Room," an area in which those involved in productions, performances, and events can rest, mingle, and wait until they are needed for an event. In addition, there are dressing rooms, instrument storage areas, and soundproof practice rooms.

In the auditorium itself, there is upgraded seating and improved lighting and acoustics. Classrooms include easily movable chairs and many of the offices for English Department faculty have hand-crafted bookshelves and wide windows through which natural light flows.

"We've made this building a lot more environmentally friendly," said Beezhold.

Although the facility opens this week, it will not be fully functional, meaning everyone will have moved in and all of the work will be completed, until early next year.

Elizabeth Vander Lei, co-chair of the English Department, said she is pleased to see that there are new classrooms and that wireless Internet will be available to students. She is also pleased with construction of a large seminar room that will help to accommodate the department’s expanding program in writing studies.

An outside patio area in which students and faculty can gather, and other amenities, will help send the signal to students, she said, "that they really matter to us."

The once-and-future residents of the CFAC will be celebrating their new home in several ways this upcoming week:

• The public dedication for the new Covenant Fine Arts Center will be held on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010, at 4:30 p.m. A reception will follow.
• On Thursday, October 21, beginning at 3:30, the English department will host "A Flight of Words," a selection of readings by faculty and students. The readings will be immediately followed by the featured speaker, author Walter Wangerin.
• Center Art Gallery will feature "The Humor and Wit of Pieter Bruegel the Elder," which will kick off with an opening lecture at 7 p.m. by art history professor Henry Luttikhuizen: "Laughing and Learning within a World Turned Upside-Down: An Introduction to the Bruegel Exhibition." The exhibition runs October 21 through December 11, 2010.
• The music department will host performances by several groups in several CFAC venues simultaneously at the Fall Music Festival, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 22, and running through Saturday, October 23.

For more info on the CFAC opening, contact Henry DeVries at 616-526-6148. For additional information on the project and opening events, visit: Covenant Fine Arts Center.