Phase I of a project to renovate the Performing Arts Studio/Burlington Road Building, home of the former Emory Baptist Church, is expected to be partially completed by Jan. 1, making the facility available for rehearsals. Phase I involves the renovation of the former church's sanctuary, to be known as the Performing Arts Studio, into a rehearsal and performance space that will be used primarily by the music department, as well as adjacent space on the second floor of the three-story Burlington Road Building, which once housed the former church's education and administrative facilities.
Because of severely limited storage space in the music department, music students in instrumental programs must carry their instruments to rehearsals and performances, most of which take place in Glenn Auditorium and Cannon Chapel. This can present logistical problems for students who play large instruments, especially on rainy days.
In addition, setting up for rehearsals in Glenn Auditorium each week is a time-consuming process for Facilities Management personnel, and an expensive and cumbersome process. Damage to student and Emory-owned instruments is a common result of this arrangement.
The completion of the 5,500-square-foot Performing Arts Studio will address those problems, according to Rosemary Magee, associate dean in Emory College. Magee said that instrument lockers for students will be placed adjacent to the Performing Arts Studio, in a corridor behind what was once a choir loft and pulpit. The Performing Arts Studio itself, which will be used mainly as rehearsal space for a dozen instrumental ensembles in the music department, will feature cascading, retractable seating that can accommodate up to 250 people. Magee said this design will allow for flexibility in setting up for rehearsals, as well as staging recitals and performances.
The studio will be available for rehearsals in January, with completion of finishing touches on Phase I work allowing recitals and performances to be held there beginning in April.
In addition to the Performing Arts Studio, Phase I also includes renovation of approximately 2,500 square feet on the second floor of the Burlington Road Building adjacent to the studio. This portion of the renovation project includes four faculty offices/studios, an electronic/computer music studio and a choral rehearsal studio. Magee said these facilities will help relieve a shortage of practice rooms in the Humanities Building, where 90 music majors--and several hundred ensemble performers--compete for time in five practice rooms.
Steven Everett, associate professor of music and director of instrumental music, is especially pleased with the potential the renovated facilities represent. "This will be a tremendous benefit for the faculty, staff and students of the music department," Everett said. "Once the ensembles begin performing in the studio this spring, the students for the most part will be able to rehearse in the same space where they will be performing, which they currently cannot do."
The new electronic/computer music studio is a godsend for Everett, who specializes in this emerging field of musical study. Everett said his current studio consists of one corner of another faculty member's office.
Once Everett and several other music faculty and staff move in after completion of Phase I, work on Phase II will begin in late spring or early summer. Phase II renovation will involve the majority of the Burlington Road Building, which is temporarily housing the religion department and ILA. Those two units will move into the Walker-Callaway Center (formerly the Physics Building) once renovation is completed in May. A Montessori School located on the first floor also will vacate the building.
While Magee characterizes the Performing Arts Studio as a crucial facility for the music department, she also views it in the larger context of the entire University's need for performance space.
"We see this space as meeting the short-term, most urgent needs of the music department, and it also will be a resource for other performing arts programs," said Magee, who credits the collaborative process between the music department and Campus Planning and Construction, as well as strong support from the University administration, with making the project possible. "In the long term, the Performing Arts Studio will continue to play a role in meeting the University's performing arts needs as plans develop for a new arts facility."
--Dan Treadaway