Construction funds approved at Oct. 16 regents meeting
Art major Bobbie Gray applies glaze to a ceramic dish she created in MaryAnn Moore’s Tuesday afternoon ceramics class. The current ceramics lab is located just inside Entry 5 of the Arts and Humanities building, but will relocate into the new Arts Education Center once the building is completed.
Photo by Carrie Cronk
OCCC regents authorized college administrators at their Oct. 16 meeting to draw up a contract with Wynn Construction Co. to begin construction of Phase One of the Arts Education Center.
The cost of the Arts Education Center is approximately $7 million, said Arts and Humanities Dean Susan VanSchuyver. Those funds were given to OCCC by the state Legislature.
The building will sit between parking lots C and D where Arts Festival Oklahoma is normally held.
Construction is anticipated to begin soon, said Ruth Charnay, Arts and Humanities department chairwoman.
“[Arts and Humanities instructors] are hoping that we’re going to break ground within the next month or two,” Charnay said.
The Arts Education Center will be about 56,000 square feet and will include approximately 12 classrooms and labs to “facilitate expanding student enrollment in the art, music, theater, graphic communications, and film and video production programs,” according to the Board of Regents agenda.
Phase One includes construction of all but the theater. Once funds for the theater have been identified, it will be added to the north end of the Arts Education Center.
In addition to the classrooms and lab space, there also will be an art gallery in the entryway to the building.
“Right as you walk in, there’ll be an area where we’ll be able to show student artwork or small traveling exhibits,” Charnay said.
“This is all about helping our art students, whether it be in visual arts or performing arts, have a better place to work and learn.”
There also will be several new rooms and updated technology to better accommodate programs such as choir, film and video production, and painting, Charnay said.
The film and video production program was added to the curriculum only a few years ago, so the current Arts and Humanities building wasn’t constructed with them in mind, Charnay said.
Instructors currently use whatever space they can find, she said.
VanSchuyver said that will all change with the new building.
“There’ll be a huge film and video production studio that’ll be about the size of five classrooms,” VanSchuyver said.
Other major changes are anticipated as well.
A new choir room will facilitate students as well as have updated technology.
The room will house a sound system that will enable choir members to record their singing and instantly play it back to listen for possible errors, Charnay said.
The painting lab, while not typically associated with technology, will have computers in place for quick information retrieval.
“There’s going to be computer access [in the painting lab] so the professor can walk over and say, ‘OK, here’s what’s happening at the Metropolitan Museum right now,’ and bring up a display,” Charnay said.
Other programs also will get facelifts once the new building is completed. Those updates include: a new photography darkroom, music practice rooms, and labs for pottery, ceramics, and screen printing. New faculty offices and an adjunct faculty office area are planned as well.
Charnay said the space currently used for those areas will be modified and updated, then occupied by other programs that are within Arts and Humanities but may be currently located in other areas across the campus.
“The area that’s currently being used for some of the art classes and the art labs will be taken over by the Pioneer, as will Journalism and Broadcasting,” she said. “The theater program is going to stay in the (current) theater, and they’ll take over some of the space currently being used by music for their storage.”
Students look forward to the new facilities.
“It would be nice to have a new space,” said Spanish major Lyndsie Stremlow, “maybe with more open spaces and more natural lighting.”
Student Trenton Hub-bard likes the idea of the art gallery.
“The gallery sounds really cool. I’d go to the gallery.”
Students agree the new Arts Education Building will be a unique addition to the south Oklahoma City community.
“I think [the Arts Education Center] can definitely be beneficial to the community,” said student Cara Hendrix.
“Anything that’s new and modern, and is adding on and expanding, is going to be a benefit.”
Charnay agrees and hopes the community will welcome the new building.
“We’re going to have a wonderful opportunity to have sort of an art hub on our side of town and so, hopefully, south Oklahoma City will be able to embrace it as their own,” she said.
A construction timeline has yet to be set for the project, but there are factors to consider when developing it, said Physical Plant Director J.B. Messer.
“Normally, in a facility like this, it can be completed somewhere within about 18 to 24 months.”
Also authorized at the Oct. 16 Board of Regents meeting was funding for an expansion of the Health Professions Education Center. The college will draw up a contract with Wynn Construction Co. for that project as well.
Both projects were authorized in an amount not to exceed $13,387,000, according to the Board of Regents Recap e-mail.
OCCC received $15.3 million from the state Legislature for both projects.
OCCC President Paul Sechrist said the other $2 million is earmarked as well but isn’t added in because it goes toward other costs with a different company.
“Part of it does not include the architectural and engineering fee,” Sechrist said.
“I don’t know the exact figure, but a portion of that will be paid to (Walt) Joyce and the Triad Design Group for doing the architectural and engineering work.
“Also, we bid the contract without landscaping or parking lots, so the balance of that will be used for the required parking lot.”
“We’ll actually be spending all of the $15.3 million on the two projects.”
Details on the Health Professions Education Center expansion project will appear in the Nov. 6 issue of the Pioneer.
Editor David Miller can be reached at editor@occc.edu.
