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In the Spotlight
Gibson Center for the Arts
The Vision
When it opens in Fall 2009, the newly renovated and expanded Gibson Center for the Arts will return the arts to what College President Baird Tipson calls "their rightful place" at the heart of the liberal arts experience. It will also reaffirm Rev. William Smith's vision for Washington College as the cultural center of Maryland's Eastern Shore. Ultimately, human society benefits when young people are trained to be creative and imaginative thinkers, as they are in Washington College's music and drama programs.
The $24 million renovation and expansion project offers a creative solution to a lack of rehearsal and performance space on campus while addressing issues of aesthetics, functionality and accessibility. By making the former Tawes Theatre smaller and more intimate, the architects have added two performance spaces of human scale and functional design—a 200-set music recital hall and an experimental theatre seating 150—each accessed through a common glassed lobby that overlooks Martha Washington Square.
The intent is to symbolically position the arts and the center of campus by building a modern cultural center that benefits students, College friends and community audiences alike.
Visitors will enter the Performing Arts Center through a covered rear entrance adjacent to a guest parking lot. The front facade becomes the perfect backdrop for impromptu outdoor performances.