$20 million donation funds new arts center

By Molly Chiu     2/14/13 6:00pm

A new building will soon be rising on the Rice skyline. The Moody Foundation donated $20 million this week to go toward building the new Moody Center for the Arts. The building will be located near Entrance 8, around the Rice University Media Center, and the construction start date is targeted for 2015. 

Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Initiatives Caroline Levander said that the Moody Foundation's donation is the end result of an evolving conversation between Rice President David Leebron and the foundation. 

"For a university of our caliber, to not have a facility that was committed to development of art was a real gap," Levander said. "We have a president who's very interested in stimulating the arts on our campus." 

---

---

Levander said the center will include an experimental theater space, an arts design kitchen and gallery space. The galleries could house exhibits on loan from other museums or even student projects, she said. 

"This is all additive space," Levander said. "We are not getting rid of existing arts space on campus. This is space that will complement and enrich studio spaces that have already been designated." 

According to Levander, the university will need to fundraise an additional $15 million for the new arts center, $10 million of which will go toward the building itself and $5 million of which will go toward leadership and programming. 

 "Given the vitality of the Houston arts community, we feel like [$15 million] is a reasonable amount to continue to fundraise for in a timely fashion," Levander said. 

Levander said the new arts center is a part of a nationwide movement to make creativity part of university curriculum. 

"What we would hope in years from now is that students at this university would see arts-making and creativity as an integral part of their education, regardless of their major," Levander said. 

Levander said she hopes that visitors to Houston will consider Rice's arts center among other local world-class arts institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Menil Collection. 

"We are literally a stone's throw from internationally renowned museums," Levander said. "This is a real opportunity for Houston as well as Rice to create another important hub in that arts network." 

The Faculty Arts Advisory Committee, which includes faculty across a variety of disciplines such as architecture, music, visual and dramatic arts and engineering, will gather input and make suggestions about the design and program of the arts center, Levander said. 

Anthony Brandt, the Shepherd School of music's chair on the FAAC, said he is excited about the new Moody Center for the Arts. 

"It's exciting to see the growing presence of the arts at Rice, from the beautiful campus-wide public art to student-driven initiatives such as CelArts to the new Moody Center," Brandt said. "All of us see the building as a launching pad of innovation and greater engagement with the arts." 

The committee also includes chairs from Rice's architecture school, the English department and the visual and dramatic arts department. 

Brown College junior Alison Moscoso said she is excited about the addition of a new arts facility. 

"I think that Rice has such a strong focus on engineering and research that the arts are often forgotten about," Moscoso said. "This is best reflected in the location of the new arts center, in a far corner of Rice's campus. I think it will be successful though because the students here are well-rounded and are always seeking opportunities to expand their horizons." 

---