“Elite campuses across the country have emerged from the recession riding a multibillion-dollar wave of architecturally ambitious arts facilities,” writes James R. Russell in Sunday’s (11/16) New York Times. “The current tide of building developed over years, as universities reassert the essential value of the arts to a well-rounded education, aided by deep-pocket alumni willing to underwrite elaborate new facilities.… Campus museums and arts centers, offering performances and public exhibitions, are intended in part to help schools mend strains with their communities while appealing to students. … Yale set the bar high in the 1990s with its half-billion-dollar master plan that included renovations and new buildings for art, art history, architecture, music and theater.… Stanford University is building an entire arts district around its Cantor Arts Center to boost the tech haven’s arts bona fides.… And at Rice University, a leading research institution in Houston, classical singing students will benefit from an anonymous gift that spurred the design of a new opera theater.… For his part, Princeton’s president, Christopher Eisgruber, argues that the alumni and campus community ‘believe we must make it possible for the human spirit to soar.’ ”
Posted November 17, 2014
