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A NEW FINE ARTS ushers in a new era of creativity 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

SOON THE NEW BUILDING WILL MATCH THE CREATIVITY OF THE STUDENTS’ ART.

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