The University of Arkansas at Little Rock began work Tuesday on its new $20.3 million, 64,600-SF Windgate Center of Art and Design, set to open on Jan. 8, 2018, the first day of the 2018 spring semester.
The Windgate Charitable Foundation donated the $20.3 million, which is the second largest gift the school has ever received.
The university, in response, launched a $3 million endowed scholarship campaign so that more students could enroll in the center’s programs, currently housed in three areas of campus.
The center will include two buildings connected by a main gallery and administrative wing. One building will be 43,242 SF; the second building will be 21,358 SF.
There will be 13 studios; eight classrooms; 21 faculty and staff offices; two galleries totaling a combined 2,000 SF; an archival storage facility; an art history reading room; a lecture hall; and 30 process and support rooms.
Other planned features include a fine arts foundry; a makerspace/fabrication lab with 3-D printers; laser cutters and a 12,308-SF courtyard. The center will also be home to the university’s permanent art collection.
When the new center opens, students will have round-the-clock access to it. The facility will offer classes in art history, blacksmithing, ceramics, digital fabrication, graphic design, illustration, metal fabrication, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpting, woodworking, furniture design, web design and development and jewelry making.
UALR will also offer new program, including 3-D modeling, animation and video game design.
UALR said its partnerships with the Arkansas Arts Center, The Arkansas Arts Center Museum School, the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, Art Connection and the THEA Foundation would be enhanced by the center because it addresses the limited space and access those organizations faced in offering workshops and classes on the university’s campus.
WER Architects of Little Rock was hired for the project, along with contractors Nabholz Corp. of Conway and Doyne Construction Co. of North Little Rock.
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