Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

St. Mary’s College Opens New Performing Arts Building

  • By Matt Jones
  • 09/29/22

St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City, Maryland, recently debuted its new performing arts center to the public. The college held a daylong celebration on Saturday, Sept. 24, in honor of the new Nancy R. and Norton T. Dodge Performing Arts Center. The new facility will house the campus’ music department and includes amenities like music labs, rehearsal rooms and a recital hall with a capacity of 125, according to local news.

Other features include a 700-seat auditorium for concerts and other large gatherings, as well as a lobby area featuring floor-to-ceiling, curved glass windows for receptions. The facility is named after Norton Dodge, who served as an economics professor at the college from 1980–89, a member of the board of trustees from 1968–1979, and a director of the St. Mary’s College of Maryland Foundation from 1980–2000, according to local news. Dodge passed away in 2011.

“The impact of the performing arts center on the college cannot be overstated,” said St. Mary’s College of Maryland President Tuajuanda Jordan.

The college also opened a new Learning Commons adjacent to the performing arts center. The Commons will play home to the college’s department of educational studies, as well as a café and student study space. The combined cost of the two buildings was $66 million, which was funded through the state of Maryland and $2.5 million in private donations.

According to the college’s website, the college partnered with design firms Graham Gund Architects of Boston and GWWO Architects of Baltimore, and Holder Construction Company served as the Construction Manager at Risk. Construction began in late January 2020.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Houston K–12 District Opens New Elementary School

    The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (Lamar CISD) recently announced the completion of a new elementary school in a western suburb of Houston, Texas, according to a news release. Haygood Elementary School measures in at 110,000 square feet, has the capacity for 854 students, and is the first of three new schools scheduled to be built in the Cross Creek West community.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • UT System Approves First Funds for New Campus

    The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently approved funds to build the first facility of a new campus in far west Fort Worth, Texas, according to university news. UTA West will serve as a branch of the University of Texas at Arlington and is scheduled to open in fall 2028.

  • Hawaii Elementary School Breaks Ground on New Classroom Building

    Kealakehe Elementary School in Kailua, Hawaii, recently began construction on a new, $16-million classroom building for its campus, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot building will stand two stories and connect the existing upper and lower campuses.