SUNY Potsdam Multimedia Press Release

SUNY Potsdam to Unveil $41M Performing Arts Building in 2013

The State University of New York at Potsdam will be home to a new $41M Performing Arts Building in 2013. The 96,000 square feet arts facility will not only provide educational resources to students and faculty but also be an essential component in further fostering an arts community in Northern New York. 

Potsdam, New York June 24, 2011—On Friday, April 29, 2011, the State University of New York at Potsdam (www.potsdam.edu) celebrated the groundbreaking of its $41 million Performing Arts Building in a ceremony attended by government officials, distinguished college faculty, and representatives from Pfeiffer Partners Architects PC (www.pfeifferpartners.com) and Northland Associates Inc. (www.northlandassoc.com), the designers and contractors of the new addition. 

As a university known for its rigorous and outstanding arts department, this new academic building has been long awaited since 1973. “SUNY Potsdam is very proud to begin construction of this momentous project...the Performing Arts Building—located adjacent to The Crane School of Music—will help create an arts village on our campus. This facility will offer students cutting-edge technology and serve as an arts showcase for the entire community,” said College President Dr. John F. Schwaller. The 97,000 square feet building will boast a 350-seat proscenium theatre, a 200-seat black box theatre, and a 200-seat dance performance hall. 

SUNY Potsdam’s Performing Arts Building will not only offer multiple performance spaces but also be used as a vital tool in educating the college community. The “arts village” will feature various laboratories for education, audio, design, digital, drafting and lighting, which will allow students to explore other forms of the arts medium. In addition, the space will provide the students with movement studios for dance and theater, a recording studio, scene shop, costume shop, dressing rooms and a green room.

“This facility will allow the Department of Theatre and Dance to do things we’ve only dreamed of until now, including aerial dancing and use of multimedia in performance, and innovative design opportunities. Our students’ talents will quite literally take flight here,” said Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance Kimberly Bouchard. 

Proposed to be completed in 2013, the arts facility was not only designed as a building to educate and foster the college arts community but to reach out to the surrounding districts as well. As the first theater education program in the State University of New York system, SUNY Potsdam’s Department of Theatre and Dance has been dedicated in showcasing an arts curriculum accessible by all ages. Last year, the school’s outreach programs provided 7,000 Northern New York children with educational plays and summer programs. 

In addition, the lobby and cafe supplements will serve as an “arts avenue” to exhibit student works and as a venue for special events and receptions. The indoor link from the building’s southeast entrance to the Crane School of Music at Bishop Hall, symbolizes the preservation in the significance of the collaboration between the students, faculty, and the Northern New York neighborhood in advancing the arts in the North Country. 

"The building will serve as a very real symbol of the College's commitment to liberal and fine arts education and supports 'SUNY and the Vibrant Community,' one of the Six Big Ideas of our strategic plan, The Power of SUNY,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher.

Not only was the space designed with functionality in mind but also strived to sustain SUNY Potsdam’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The proposed plan will be rewarded with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’s (LEED) Silver certification. To learn more about LEED certification, visit www.usgbc.org.

“The beauty of the St. Lawrence Valley inspired us in our design thinking. The angled exterior panels set against the linear terra cotta tiles pay homage to the majestic striated rock outcroppings and ledges seen throughout the North Country, while the undulating roof blankets the disparate volumes of space below, much like snow drifts belie what lay beneath. Inside, the colors reflect those of fall leaves, mimicking the beauty of the region's waterways," said architect Norman Pfeiffer of Pfeiffer Partners Architects PC. To learn more about the Performing Arts Building and view architect's renderings, visit www.potsdam.edu/about/artscampus/performingartsbuilding.

The 97,000 square feet, $41 million Performing Arts Building is set to be finished in two years, welcoming its first students in the fall semester of 2013.

"Our students break ground every day. They explore, they discover, uncover and search for truth and meaning. They are the real impetus for the new building. Their creativity, dedication, artistic excellence -- this is what inspires us to create 21st century spaces where new collaborations, new kinds of art-making, new technologies are at hand for them," said Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance Kimberly Bouchard.

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Founded in 1816, and located on the outskirts of the beautiful Adirondack Park, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America’s first 50 colleges. SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts.

Contact:

Esther Kim

SUNY Potsdam

315-267-2000

http://www.potsdam.edu