written by Chris Barrett ’08

If using hand sanitizer to transfer digital photographs to newsprint sounds unconventional, that’s the point. Students at the University of Rhode Island (URI) often craft interdisciplinary ways to tell unique stories in visual and performing arts, but they’ve been hamstrung by cramped, obsolete, and disconnected facilities. That’s about to change thanks to a major overhaul of the University’s Fine Arts Center. Soon the new building will match the creativity of the students’ art.

Next year, URI wraps up an $80 million project to overhaul the 56-year-old center. The renewal includes 93,000 square feet of new and renovated space to foster collaboration among and within the Art and Art History, Music, and Theater departments, as well as with the rest of the campus.

“The new fine arts center will transform art history at URI,” says Art History Assistant Professor Erin McCutcheon. “It will offer state of the art resources and professional spaces that will enhance our ability to bring students closer to artists and artworks and provide them with the hands-on training necessary to thrive as members of the art world, while also highlighting the innovative research currently undertaken by our Art History faculty.”

URI Art and Art History Professor Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, whose students undertook the hand sanitizer project, can’t wait. She encourages students to think beyond technical competencies and instead develop innovative ways to present and convey ideas.

“They’ve converted digital images to physical prints using the sun and water, integrated artificial intelligence into their creative process, and experimented with printing images on different fabrics,” Matthew says.

Previously, photography students needed to traverse a winding maze of dimly lit corridors down a flight of stairs with supplies in tow to use space in Assistant Professor Travess Smalley’s printmaking lab. Because so much of Matthew’s research and her students’ work involves the ever-expanding digital imaging toolbox such as artificial intelligence, laser cutters, RISO prints, and cyanotypes used by photography and print-media, the new center merges the two previously disconnected spaces.

“Both of our creative work and teaching revolves around these processes, which are two very different approaches,” Matthew says. “Which is why we decided to break down the walls between our silos to make it one big playground for the creative work of faculty and students.”

Most of the walls literally came down during the past few years as construction crews demolished the structure devoid of artistic merit.

While the Robert E. Will Theatre and concert hall remain, new construction will boast an airy lobby along with studios for choral, drawing, painting, printing, graphics and digital design. There will be theater rehearsal rooms, a sculpture studio, a recording studio, music practice rooms, and two rooms dedicated to the burgeoning music therapy program. A modern façade with floor-to-ceiling windows letting in natural light will deliver a contemporary feel, encouraging students, faculty, and visitors to stay awhile to research and learn.

The spaces we’re building will facilitate research opportunities for students and faculty but also spaces that are intimately connected to the curriculum. It’s about creating new opportunities for the fine arts program to envision what they’re going to be like in the next 50 years.

Jeannette Riley, Dean, College of Arts and Science

Those opportunities change fast. For example, computer aided textile design and manufacturing means textile students spend almost as much time learning computations as their engineering peers. In just the last few years, the rise of artificial intelligence has forced artists to reckon with what defines original artwork while opening doors to new ways of creating. Recognizing the evolving nature of art, the center’s architects prioritized flexibility. The steel frame long span construction allows for future reconfiguration so that classrooms can be adapted to suit the needs of expanding disciplines.

“The building’s use bends to whatever is happening in it,” says College of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean Thomas Stubblefield, who is helping oversee the project.

For many faculty and students, a highlight includes new, flexible multimedia gallery spaces with proper lighting, climate control and security. Matthew says such spaces encourage prominent artists to display their work and, most importantly, engage with students. Plus, it presents opportunities for students to learn how to conceptualize, sequence, curate and install a professional show with no shortage of visitors. Each year, more than 3,000 students sign up for introductory courses and 50,000 members of the public attend the University’s more than 100 theater productions, concerts, and gallery shows.

“The building will go a long way in acknowledging the incredible work that always happened in the arts at URI,” Stubblefield says. “It’s been a little bit of the best kept secret.”

Secret or not, Rhode Islanders came out to support the effort in 2021 by passing a bond to steer $57.3 million toward the project. Riley said voters recognized the impact of URI arts on the community and the importance of artistic education in a state with a rich historical, visual and performing arts culture.

That culture will extend to the renovated center itself with 1% of the budget set aside for a permanent public arts installation. A state law mandates the budget allocation, but leaves the decision of the artwork up to the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts in consultation with the public. Stubblefield says students and faculty jumped at the chance to partake in the process. They turned out in droves to public hearings and faculty incorporated the experience into the curriculum. No decisions have been made yet, but Stubblefield says the collaboration embodies the spirit of the entire renovation—a fusion of community, creativity, and forward-thinking vision. And he’s hopeful the recent attention on the University’s creative arts piques the interest of future students and faculty seeking the next big idea.

“From a research perspective, from a creative works perspective, we’re very strong,” Stubblefield says. “This brings us to the next level.”