New University of Montevallo Center for the Arts a boost for the campus and community

ByPat Byington
LAST UPDATED09/06/18

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Montevallo — Rendering of the new University of Montevallo Center for the Arts. Photo courtesy of University of Montevallo.

Earlier this week, the University of Montevallo held a ground-breaking ceremony on campus announcing the construction of its new multi-million-dollar Center for the Arts.

Renown for its fine arts programs regionally and nationally, Montevallo was recently named the 13th “Best Value School” by U.S. News and World Report’s 2018 Best Colleges edition.

The new 36,000-square-foot Center for the Arts facility will help increase the College of Fine Arts’s enrollment and provide a more comprehensive teaching and learning space giving fine arts programs a location to collaborate more across disciplines.

IMG 5209 New University of Montevallo Center for the Arts a boost for the campus and community — Photo courtesy of University of Montevallo.

“This new Center for the Arts will be a state of the art facility able to accommodate growth including up to 150 students in the arts programs over the next five years,” said Dr. John W. Stewart III, president of the University of Montevallo. “The cross function of disciplines under one roof will provide students with more marketable skills for their future occupations.”

The Center for the Arts will provide opportunities for campus and community use with the following key features:

• Performance venues and hospitality space
• University art gallery
• Theatre Department offices and multipurpose classrooms and studios
• Multi-use digital fabrication lab
• Scene design and wardrobe shops and versatile storage spaces

IMG 5310 e1524432103495 New University of Montevallo Center for the Arts a boost for the campus and community — Photo courtesy of University of Montevallo.

The performance venue will include a 350-seat theater with state-of-the-art acoustics and technology for music concerts and theater performances, a 100-seat black box theater and a courtyard suitable for outdoor performances and receptions.

Not only will the new Center for the Arts serve to promote integrated thinking within the University, it will also act as an artistic hub for the community.

IMG 5299 e1524431604810 New University of Montevallo Center for the Arts a boost for the campus and community — State Senator Cam Ward speaking at the University of Montevallo Center of the Arts groundbreaking. Photo courtesy of University of Montevallo.

“The facility will immerse students’ experiences in the arts. The impact on the University of Montevallo, the Shelby County community and our university will be endless,” concluded Dr. Steven Peters, dean of the University of Montevallo College of Fine Arts.

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Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.