<strong>East</strong> <strong>Los</strong> <strong>Angeles</strong> <strong>College</strong> Performing and Fine Arts Complex Construction Is Under Way President Ernest H. Moreno, left, and former art department chair June Smith, dance instructor Rick Crawford, Director of Theater, Kelley Hogan, art department chair Jim Uyekawa, Vincent Price Art Museum director Karen Rapp and music instructor Albert Dawson break ground on the new Performing and Fine Arts Complex. ounds of dirt and huge earth moving machines are “M sculpting the corner of Avenida Cesar Chavez and Collegian Avenue preparing the area for the construction of the Performing and Fine Arts Complex that will serve the community as well as <strong>East</strong> <strong>Los</strong> <strong>Angeles</strong> <strong>College</strong> students. The new complex will house the college’s famous Vincent Price Art Museum with a collection of more than 2,000 pieces valued in excess of $5 million. “<strong>East</strong> <strong>Los</strong> <strong>Angeles</strong> <strong>College</strong> has the most impressive collection of artwork of any community college in the world,” <strong>College</strong> President Ernest H. Moreno said during the June 27 groundbreaking ceremony. “With this new building, we finally have a home worthy of our outstanding collection.” The gallery was dedicated in 1957 when Vincent and Mary Grant Price donated a significant portion of their personal art collection to the college with the goal of providing students and the surrounding community with an art gallery. They continued to increase the collection by encouraging artists and fellow collectors to contribute pieces to the collection, which was first housed in a campus bungalow. “We will now have a world-class art museum with ample storage for artwork that can function as a teaching collection; three floors of exhibition space; an art history lecture hall and the ability to involve the campus and community in many activities, film screenings and lectures that make a good museum great,” said Karen Rapp, Vincent Price Art Museum director. The museum will be located at the center of the complex surrounded by two other buildings. The dance, music and visual arts building will house studios and classrooms for painting, sculpture, print making, and a ceramics laboratory. The two-story, 77,000 square-foot facility will also have a recital hall and classrooms for dance, music, choir and music libraries, music computer labs and rehearsal space. “Students will be given the opportunity to enhance their training in the arts within a professional setting that will be equipped to create an atmosphere they have only dreamed of and are completely thrilled about,” said Kristina Karmiryan, a student and president of <strong>ELAC</strong>’s Let’s Dance Company. “Having this center for the various arts will make students feel appreciated and significant, thus giving them the opportunity to inspire one another, value our unique qualities, and ultimately represent <strong>East</strong> <strong>Los</strong> <strong>Angeles</strong> <strong>College</strong> with dignity and pure talent.” A third 42,110 square-foot companion building has been custom-designed for the college’s Theater Arts Department. The facility will include a 167 fixed-seat theater, a “black box” theater that will accommodate more than 110 persons as well as a costume shop, make-up room and rehearsal classrooms. “Someone once said – and I believe it was a theater guy – that ‘all the world’s a stage . . .’ said Kelley Hogan, Director of Theater. “Well, here at <strong>East</strong> that was very true (because) every sidewalk, converted classroom, World War I bungalow, and grassy knoll was a stage for our students and they created magic in those spaces. I can hardly wait to see the even more marvelous and magical shows that they will create in our new facility.” “[<strong>ELAC</strong>] has such a wonderful legacy,” said Marshall E. Drummond, chancellor of the <strong>Los</strong> <strong>Angeles</strong> Community <strong>College</strong> District. “The building will give faculty and staff members the platform to create a new legacy that will make this center go far beyond <strong>East</strong> <strong>Los</strong> <strong>Angeles</strong>.” The new project is scheduled to be completed in spring 2010. For more information on this and other bond construction projects at <strong>East</strong> <strong>Los</strong> <strong>Angeles</strong> <strong>College</strong>, visit www. LACCDBuildsGreen.org/elac.php n
<strong>Fall</strong> 2OO8 Earth movers begin to prepare the site for the new Performing and Fine Arts Complex. President Ernest H. Moreno is joined by dance and theater students dressed in a variety of theater and performance costumes at the ground breaking ceremony. Construction is expected to be completed in spring 2010.
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