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FROM STAFF REPORTS

The University of Montevallo’s newly opened Center for the Arts has been selected as one of the most important construction projects in the Birmingham metropolitan area.

The Birmingham Business Journal honored the Center for the Arts on its 2020 Building Birmingham list, which recognizes projects based on their impact, degree of difficulty and unique offerings.

“The College of Fine Arts is truly honored that its new Center for the Arts is among the awardees of this prestigious award,” said Dr. Steve Peters, dean of the College of Fine Arts. “Since the center is uniquely designed to be a one-of-a-kind collaboratory, it brings students from all our departments together for innovative and creative practices that rely on teamwork and group creativity. The students are excited this fall to be the first cohort to begin exploring the many possibilities the center offers.”

The 36,750-square-foot building is located at the intersection of Oak Street and North Boundary Street, and is unique among collegiate facilities in the state of Alabama. It brings together many academic disciplines previously spread out across multiple buildings on the UM campus, and serves as a prime resource for the Montevallo community and Shelby County.

The Center serves students in the College of Fine Arts departments of art, communication, music and theatre and added a dance program to the college.

It features two performance venues, an art gallery, a large social space, a concessions area, a digital fabrication lab, design labs with animation software, multiple classrooms, theatre faculty and college offices, vocal performance rehearsal rooms, a dance studio, state-of-the-art production shops, a public pocket park, a sculpture garden, an outdoor commons area and adjacent ground-level parking.

The Center for the Arts was also designed to provide services to the University and community as a whole and will have a positive economic and cultural impact on the entire community. No large events will be held in the Center for the Arts or on the UM campus until the threat posed by COVID-19 has subsided.