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Riverside colleges to bring arts schools downtown
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11:34 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Video: See UCR's Culver Center of the Arts
RIVERSIDE - Jonathan Green can already envision the public reaction to the opening in 2009 of UC Riverside's Culver Center of the Arts.
The center is going in an old department store building on Riverside's downtown pedestrian mall. The building's interior is similar to a church nave, with a rectangular atrium flanked on either side by a series of columns and topped by a skylight.
"People's jaws are going to drop when they walk in," Green said.
He is executive director of UCR's ARTSblock, where the incoming Culver Center will join the university's two other arts institutions, the Sweeney Art Gallery and the California Museum of Photography, on a single square block.
Work on the Rouse department store building could begin in November, Green said, and it should be ready to open by mid-2009.
"This is a real intersection of the university and the community," Green said.
Two blocks away, on University Avenue near Market Street, Riverside Community College plans to build the Riverside School for the Arts by 2012.
Both projects will combine classrooms, artist workspaces and digital media labs with space for public exhibitions and performances.
Construction of the Culver Center and the Riverside School for the Arts both rely in part on money from a $10.4 billion state bond measure, Prop. 1D, which voters approved in November 2006.
The Culver Center is receiving $8 million from the measure, UC Riverside spokeswoman Bettye Miller said.
The Riverside School for the Arts is expecting $41 million, said Carolyn Quin, the school's dean.
Along with the ongoing renovation of the Fox Theater for use as a performing arts center, the Culver Center and the Riverside School for the Arts are essential components in downtown Riverside's transformation into an arts center, Mayor Ron Loveridge said.
The City Council, on his recommendation and with the support of arts and business leaders, recently designated Riverside as "City of the Arts."
Seed Money
The Culver Center got its start with a $5 million challenge grant pledged in 2000 by the late Riverside philanthropist Tony Culver. It is named for his parents, Barbara and Art.
UCR has until Nov. 19 to award a contract for the seismic retrofitting and renovation of the Rouse building, which is expected to cost about $14.5 million, Miller said.
Of the $5 million Culver grant, $1.5 million went toward buying the property. The remainder will be used for construction, she said. The city's Redevelopment Agency is set to contribute $2.25 million and UCR's College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is expected to provide $1.3 million. The state bond money accounts for $7.4 million of the construction cost; the rest was for design.
The Rouse building dates to at least 1895 and was remodeled several times.
The two-story building's ground-floor façade, with its fieldstones, display cases and awning, will be redone, Green said.
The second-story façade, with Mexican tiles, French windows and rounded wrought-iron balconies, was an alteration made by architect G. Stanley Wilson in the 1920s based on 15th century Spanish architecture. This will be preserved, Green said.
The ground-floor interior will be a public space for performances and exhibitions, he said. Workspaces for faculty and students and a digital media lab will occupy the second floor. Twenty-five to 50 students and faculty members should be there on any given day, Green said.
Some of the performances and exhibitions will be free and some will charge a fee, he said.
In the space where the Tamale Factory used to be, a coffee shop, small movie theater and a bookstore are planned.
A Modern Appearance
The Riverside School for the Arts is a bigger project expected to cost $57 million. RCC plans to construct a modern three-story building for the school on University Avenue at Fairmount Boulevard. The building will go into design development in summer 2008, Quin said. The school's mission is clear, she said.
"It's meant to prepare students for careers," Quin said, particularly in the film industry.
Students are already taking classes, at Riverside City College, in animation, illustration, television production and more.
The classes are intended to feed students into UCR's film and visual culture program to complete their bachelor's degree, Quin said.
The Riverside School for the Arts expects to have 1,600 students.
RCC must contribute $16 million for the construction of the school as a match to the state bond measure's $41 million, Quin said.
ARTs EDUCATION DOWNTOWN
Two projects are proposed for downtown Riverside that will mix education and public participation.
UC Riverside's Culver Center of the Arts: UCR in November hopes to begin renovating the historic building on Main Street near Ninth Street that once housed Rouse's department store. It will hold performance and exhibition space on the ground floor and workspaces on the second floor for professors and students. Expected to open by mid-2009.
Riverside Community College's Riverside School for the Arts: RCC plans to build a strikingly modern building on University Avenue near Market Street. It will house classes with an emphasis on digital media, primarily film production. Classes will be for artists, writers, animators and set builders. Performances and exhibitions for the public will take place. Expected to open by 2012.
