In the Media

• Halfway home: It’s good news for Brock’s downtown arts school

  Tuesday, February 11, 2014 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Brock News, Tuesday, February 11, 2014)

  The construction of Brock University’s new arts school in downtown St. Catharines has passed the midway point, as workers have kept the major project moving along despite this winter’s harsh weather.

  Three senior University officials appeared before St Catharines City Council on Monday Feb 10 with an update on the $45-million project that will house the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  And their news was good.

  “We’re on time, and we’re on budget,” said Brian Hutchings, Vice-President of Finance and Administration, who joined President Jack Lightstone and Humanities Dean Douglas Kneale for the council presentation. Hutchings said the Walker School is still scheduled to be open for September 2015.

  Lightstone, who first proposed the idea of twin downtown arts projects when he appeared in the same council chamber seven years ago, said the urban-centre location lets the University play a role in helping local communities. The University and City worked together to find a site for the Brock project in an industrial heritage building, the former Canada Hair Cloth plant.

  “Brock University is proud to be a partner and supporter of St Catharines, and indeed of Niagara,” said Lightstone. “For years Brock has publicly stated that one of our top priorities is to help strengthen our host communities intellectually, socially, culturally and economically.”

  Kneale said creating a new centre of learning in the shell of an old industrial site is a “perfect metaphor” that will help future generations become part of Canada’s billion-dollar cultural sector.

  “We are taking a 19th-century textile factory and turning it into a state-of-the-art facility for more than 500 students,” said Kneale. “Opportunities like this happen but once in a lifetime.”

  As part of the presentation, city councillors viewed a video presentation on the project done by Tracy van Oosten, a Brock graduate of visual arts and film studies.

  At the worksite, the full footprint of the Walker School is now visible. The main structure for the project’s new construction – mainly, the new dramatic arts theatre – is up, and now workers will largely focus on the complex interior work in all of the buildings, the most time-consuming being the renovation and repurposing of the older structures.

  The University and City arts projects were the initial catalysts of a massive downtown renewal initiative, which now also includes the Meridian Centre, a 4,500-seat ice rink and spectator facility expected to be completed this autumn.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, canada hair cloth building, downtown revitalization, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Arts centres on time and on budget: Brock, St. Catharines

  Tuesday, February 11, 2014 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The St. Catharines Standard, Tuesday, February 11, 2014 | By Marlene Bergsma)

  Construction on both the city’s Performing Arts Centre and Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is on time and on budget – but the recent cold snap has forced the city’s contractor to rent ground-thawing equipment.

  Brock president Jack Lightstone told St. Catharines councillors it’s been seven years since he first made a presentation to council suggesting a partnership to revitalize downtown, and he said Brock continues to be “proud to be a partner and supporter of St. Catharines and Niagara.”

  With an anticipated enrolment of 500 students plus faculty and staff, and the city’s construction of an adjacent performing arts centre, the Walker school of art “will truly revitalize the downtown core of the city,” Lightstone said.

  Brock’s VP of finance and administration, Brian Hutchings, said construction and renovations on Brock’s part of the project are “50% done, and we are on time and on budget.”

  Showing pictures to council, Hutchings said the university is preserving much of the character of the former Canada Hair Cloth building, by showcasing wooden pillars, exposed masonry and existing windows.

  Douglas Kneale, Brock’s Dean of Humanities, said turning the former factory building into classrooms and rehearsal studios “is the perfect metaphor for St. Catharines’ industrial past and post-industrial future.”

  Quoting English Romantic poet William Blake, Kneale said the project is turning “dark Satanic mills” into engines of education and creativity. Kneale also described the state-of-the-art music practice rooms that will offer acoustic isolation with sound-blocking walls, ceilings and windows, and the perfect humidity for singers’ voices and musical instruments.

  Meanwhile a significant part of the foundation has been poured for the city’s performing arts centre project. An aerial shot of the site, taken recently, shows the elevator shaft on the left, next to the crane, and a dark hole in the centre of the frame, which will provide the stairway access to Brock’s school of arts, said St. Patrick’s Coun. Mark Elliott. On the bottom left is bare earth which will be the site of Partridge Hall, the centre’s biggest venue with 775 seats, which will boast sophisticated and invisible acoustical panels which can be automatically adjusted for the type of concert or event.

  Parks and recreation director Rick Lane said the city’s project is also on time and on budget, although the cold weather which has frozen the ground has posed some problems for Bird Construction, which has been using heaters to thaw the earth so they can continue with necessary excavation.

  Mayor Brian McMullan thanked Lightstone for the “vision and passion” he has brought to the project, and said it was “one of the reasons it succeeded and it will truly be a transformative project.”

  Lightstone also showed a video showcasing Brock’s arts programs.

   

  Tags: 15 artists' common, downtown revitalization, miwsfpa
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Brock community event looks at theatre criticism in the digital age

  Monday, February 10, 2014 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Brock News, Monday, February 10, 2014)

  An upcoming series of community discussions at Brock University later this month will debate the question: is everyone a critic?

  Media professionals, theatre experts, scholars and students will assemble in Sankey Chamber at Brock Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 to take part in the colloquium, The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age, hosted by the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  “The rise of blogging and Twitter, combined with the decline of print journalism, is raising important questions about what counts as legitimate, professional criticism,” says Karen Fricker, event co-ordinator and a professor of dramatic arts. “Our discussions will focus on the current critical scene in Niagara, as well as imagining possible futures for the arts in our community.”

  Panel members include two of Toronto’s most influential theatre critics: J. Kelly Nestruck of The Globe and Mail and Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star. Others include local figures like Jackie Maxwell, artistic director of the Shaw Festival, and Steve Solski, director of the St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts.

  The colloquium will also feature international critics: Jill Dolan, Princeton University professor and noted theatre blogger (thefeministspectator.com); Maddy Costa, a London, England blogger and journalist; and Andy Horwitz, founder of New York arts blog culturebot.net

  Dolan is visiting Brock as part of the Walker Cultural Leaders series. While here, she will deliver a public lecture, “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings.” Her lecture, co-sponsored by the Department of Dramatic Arts and Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at Brock, takes place Friday, Feb. 21, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, also in Sankey Chamber.

  All of these events are free and open to the public.

  Funding for these events is provided by the Walker Cultural Leaders Series, the Brock Humanities Research Institute and the SSHRC Institutional Grant scheme, and the St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre.

  All events will be live-streamed.  [Click on “live video”]

  —

  SCHEDULE: The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age

  All events take place in Sankey Chamber at Brock University

  FRIDAY, FEB. 21:

  * 2 – 2:30 p.m.: Welcome
  Presentation by Brock dramatic arts students from the third-year class, Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism

  * 2:30 – 4 p.m.: Panel discussion “Critics and the arts in Niagara”

  • Jill Dolan (respondent)
  • Monica Dufault, artistic director, Essential Collective Theatre
  • David Fancy, associate professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, co-artistic director, neXt Company Theatre (chair)
  • John Law, arts and entertainment writer, Sun Media
  • Sara Palmieri, co-founder, In the Soil Festival
  • Stephen Remus, minister of energy, minds, and resources, Niagara Arts Centre
  • Steve Solski, director, St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts
  • Candice Turner-Smith, managing director, Niagara Symphony Orchestra

  * 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.: Panel discussion “Embedded criticism: a new way forward, or criticism-as-PR?”

  • Maddy Costa, critic and blogger
  • Karen Fricker
  • Andy Horwitz, founder, culturebot.org
  • Jackie Maxwell, artistic director, Shaw Festival
  • Jacob Gallagher-Ross, assistant professor of theatre, University of Buffalo (respondent)
  • Lawrence Switzky, assistant professor of Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga (chair)

  SATURDAY, FEB. 22:

  * 10 – 10:30 a.m.: Welcome
  Presentation by Brock dramatic arts students from the third-year class, Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism

  * 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon: Panel discussion “Bloggers, critics, and cultural legitimation”

  • Jill Dolan
  • Karen Fricker (chair)
  • Andy Horwitz (respondent)
  • J. Kelly Nestruck, lead theatre critic, The Globe and Mail
  • Richard Ouzounian, lead theatre critic, Toronto Star
  • Holger Syme, chair, Department of English and Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga, and blogger (disposito.net)
  • Odette Yazbeck, director of public relations, Shaw Festival

  * 12:15 – 1 p.m.: Colloquium wrap-up

  • Maddy Costa; Jill Dolan; Karen Fricker (chair); Rosemary Drage Hale, director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Brock University; and Andy Horwitz

  Tags: Andy Horwitz, art, art criticism, colloquium, dramatic arts, J. Kelly Nestruck, Jackie Maxwell, Jill Dolan, Karen Fricker, Maddy Costa, Richard Ouzounian, Steve Solski, The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age, Walker Cultural Leader Series
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Brock signs contract to build arts school

  Friday, January 18, 2013 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: Niagara This Week, January 18, 2013 | By Mike Zettel)

  Brock has signed a construction contract with Bird Construction Group to build its new fine and performing arts facility in downtown St. Catharines.

  Activity at the site of the old Canada Hair Cloth textile mill at 198 St. Paul Street is expected to start the week of Jan. 21, 2013, with site preparations beginning in early February.

  Construction bids for the project were received in October 2012 and all six bids were over the University’s $26-million budget. The budget was based on the design prepared by Diamond Schmitt Architects, and on the cost estimate prepared by cost consultants Turner & Townsend cm2r.

  Every bid was more than $6 million over the budget.

  Bird Construction Group’s bid came in at $32.2 million, while the others were: ACCEL Construction Management – $32,400,000; Merit Contractors Niagara – $33,290,000; EllisDon Corporation – $33,469,000; Graham Construction & Engineering – $33,900,000; and Carillion Canada Inc – $33,950,000.

  Brock then entered into successful negotiations with Bird Construction, the low bidder for the new home of the University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts facility, to reduce construction costs and move the project forward.

  Brian Hutchings, vice-president of finance and administration, said they were able to shave between $2 and $2.5 million off the $6-million cost overrun. He said the new budget, which is still between $3.5 and $4 million above the original, was presented to Brock’s board of trustees, and it was approved.

  Moving forward, he said Brock will attempt to fundraise the difference, noting that naming rights for the schools are still up for grabs. If the fundraising efforts are not successful, Brock may have to incur additional debt.

  “Worst case, we’ll have to finance it,” Hutchings said.

  As to how the savings were achieved, Scott Walker, director of planning, design and construction, said it wasn’t easy as they thought they had a lean project to begin with. He said when the bids came over budget for the city project, they double checked their numbers.

  He said they looked at literally every aspect of the project and made between 100 and 150 little changes to trim costs.

  He said the team worked with the academic department — the eventual end users for the school — to see what savings could be achieved.

  Examples include using different materials, such as cheaper bricks and tiles, to eliminating drywall ceilings in some parts, narrowing sidewalks, and straightening out walls and a staircase that had been designed with a curve. They even found a cheaper model of toilets.

  “The majority of the savings are made up of little pieces,” he said. “We left no stone unturned.”

  At the end of the day, he said, the overall design looks very similar to the original.

  Brock says there will be a mark the official start of the project with a groundbreaking ceremony in mid-February.

  The facility will put about 500 students, faculty and staff into the city’s downtown when it relocates from Brock’s main campus. The new school will be adjacent to a new Performing Arts Centre and Spectator Facility, which are being built by the City of St. Catharines.

  Hutchings said constructed is expected to wrap up by May 2015, with students starting classes the following September.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, miwsfpa
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Brock reaches arts school deal

  Friday, January 18, 2013 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Welland Tribune, Friday, January 18, 2013 | By Jeff Bolichowski)

  Brock University will shell out a little more cash in a new deal to build its downtown arts school.

  The university announced it’s reached a deal with Bird Construction Group to build the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. Bird was the low bidder in October when Brock received a raft of over-budget bids for the school, to be built at the old Canada Hair Cloth building.

  Bids came in about $6 million over budget, but Brock vice president of finance Brian Hutchings said the school negotiated a lower cost with the company. He said figures still have to be finalized but the school will likely end up paying around $30 million, rather than the $26 million budgeted.

  “We’ve been able to do some value engineering on the project. We’re approximately two to three million dollars less,” he said.

  “We believe Brock’s getting a very good deal. Bird’s a very good partner on this.”

  Scott Walker, the school’s campus planning, design and construction director, said Bird’s bid came in around $32.2 million. He figured the school is saving around $2.1 million.

  Most of the design changes, he said, involve using cheaper materials. They’ll use cheaper bricks, cheaper roof materials and even cheaper toilets.

  Curved walls will be straighten out to save money, he said, and the foundation design will be simplified.

  Hutchings said the changes include scratching the use of suspension ceilings and leaving a formerly covered walkway uncovered.

  Most of what was cut, he said, was “some nice-to-haves, but nothing that was necessary.”

  Walker said the school cut everything it feasibly could without compromising space. It was by and large “a whole bunch of mostly small things” that have added up.

  “If we take any more out of it, we’d have to make it a smaller building.”

  Hutchings said Brock is prepared to go over its initial budget to build the school.

  “At this point, we’re obviously going to look for any other donors for the building. The building’s looking for a name,” he said.

  He said the school would also free up 45,000 square feet of space on campus. That means more space for tuition and programs.

  A groundbreaking ceremony is expected to be held in February but activity is expected to begin next week.

  The early work would mostly entail fencing and work on the foundation.

  The deal follows bids on the school coming in well over budget in October.

  It also follows bids on the city’s nearby performing arts centre coming in over budget in August.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, miwsfpa
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Brock signs contract with construction firm for downtown fine and performing arts facility project

  Friday, January 18, 2013 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Brock News, Friday, January 18, 2013 | by Tiffany Mayer. Photo: An artist’s rendering of the Marilyn I. Walker School for the Fine and Performing Arts)

  Earlier today, Brock University finalized a construction contract with Bird Construction Group to build its new fine and performing arts facility in downtown St. Catharines.

  Activity at the site of the old Canada Hair Cloth textile mill at 198 St. Paul Street is expected to start the week of Jan. 21, 2013, with site preparations beginning in early February.

  Construction bids for the project were received in October 2012 and all bids were over the University’s budget. Brock then entered into successful negotiations with Bird Construction, the low bidder for the new home of the University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts facility, to reduce construction costs and move the project forward.

  A groundbreaking ceremony to mark the official start of the project is expected to take place mid-February.

  The new facility will put about 500 students, faculty and staff into the city’s downtown when it relocates from Brock’s main campus. The new school will be adjacent to a new Performing Arts Centre and Spectator Facility, which are being built by the City of St. Catharines.

  Tags: Bird Construction Group, canada hair cloth building, downtown revitalization, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Brock welcomes more community partners to downtown project

  Wednesday, June 20, 2012 | By Brock University

  

  An artist’s rendering of the Marilyn I. Walker School for the Fine and Performing Arts showing the new theatre for the Department of Dramatic Arts.

  (Source: The Brock News, Wednesday, June 20, 2012 | by Tiffany Mayer)

  As Brock University prepares to select a contractor for its new arts school in central St. Catharines, community members are coming forward to financially back a project many people see as being a crucial bridge to future economic and cultural health.

  This summer, contractors will be invited to bid on the major job of renovating and expanding the old Canada Hair Cloth textile mill into the new home for Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. Work is to begin this fall.

  Besides relocating 500 students, faculty and staff into the downtown, the new school will also complement and share some facilities with a public Performing Arts Centre being built by the City of St. Catharines on an adjacent lot. Both projects are scheduled for completion in 2014.

  Brock’s school has a construction budget of $39.6 million. The Ontario government has given $26.1 million to the project, and the University is continuing efforts to raise more than $10-million to pay its share.

  Important supporters of the Brock project were revealed today when it was announced that three donors with strong ties to the community and Brock University are making gifts totaling more than a quarter-million dollars.

  Peter and Janet Partridge are giving $100,000 to the project. Art and Val Fleming have also committed $100,000. And the St. Catharines law firm of Lancaster Brooks & Welch is donating $75,000 to the new school.

  Peter Partridge, Vice President and Portfolio Manager with RBC Dominion Securities and a past member of Brock’s Board of Trustees, said their gift is a way of giving back to the community.

  “To have a cultural campus strategically positioned in the heart of the downtown is very important,” he said. “This is going to bring a whole new level of artistic experience not only to young performers but to an audience here in Niagara.”

  The Flemings are also eager to see the Walker School flourish.

  “We really believe in Brock,” said Val, a Brock graduate and past member of the Board of Trustees. “We especially want the Walker project to succeed. It’s a wonderful opportunity, and we believe the downtown will definitely be rejuvenated because of it.”

  At the offices of Lancaster Brooks Welch, senior partner Dave Edwards said the law firm believes the benefits of the new school will be more than economic.

  “This will change the culture of the city centre for the better by bringing students into the downtown during normal working hours,” said Edwards, a former member and chair of the Brock Board of Trustees. “It will provide an integration that’s entirely different compared to when they’re only downtown at nighttime.

  “It makes you think of Kingston, and how students there are often in the downtown during the day. This will help our restaurants, stores, coffee shops, and bring a new vibrancy to the downtown throughout the day.”

  Douglas Kneale, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Brock and a member of the committee overseeing the University’s downtown project, said the support is very heartening and much-needed.

  “The truth is, we really are all in this together, this strengthening of the community,” said Kneale. “And when you have partners like these marvelous people, it is this kind of support that helps make these dreams come true for everybody.”

  Tags: Art and Val Fleming, canada hair cloth building, Dave Edwards, Douglas Kneale, downtown revitalization, Lancaster Brooks & Welch, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Peter and Janet Partridge
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Work to begin on Brock’s downtown arts school

  Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | By Brock University

  

  The new home of the Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  After more than a year of planning and design, construction will soon begin at the future home of Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in a vacant factory in downtown St. Catharines.

  Following a tendering process, a contract has been awarded to JMX Environmental Inc. to conduct preliminary work this spring at the site of the former Canada Hair Cloth textile mill at 198 St. Paul Street.

  This “Early Works” phase involves clearing interior space and abatement of hazardous materials within the building. Work should begin in late March and take about three months to complete.

  Crews will remove some interior non-load-bearing walls and redundant services, and deal with hazardous materials that are common in older buildings. Asbestos floor and ceiling tiles will be removed, as will asbestos insulation on water pipes. Workers will also remove or seal surfaces containing lead-based or chromium-based paints. All environmental abatement work must pass inspections and meet regulatory requirements.

  The Walker School will put about 500 students, faculty and staff into the city’s downtown when the facility relocates from the main Brock campus in 2014. It is part of a collaboration that includes a new Performing Arts Centre being built on adjacent land by the City of St. Catharines.

  from University Marketing & Communications
  March 20, 2012

  Tags: 15 artists' common, canada hair cloth building, downtown revitalization, downtown St. Catharines, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, University Marketing & Communications
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Another reason to learn with us: Brock receives above-average marks in NSSE

  Wednesday, November 23, 2011 | By Brock University

  Brock University reports that the latest National Survey of Student Engagement results show senior-year undergraduates at the institution scored the university higher than both the Ontario and Canadian averages on benchmarks of active and collaborative learning, level of academic challenge, supportive campus environment, and student-faculty interaction. Brock students also exceeded provincial and national averages when asked “How would you evaluate your entire education experience at this institution?” and “If you could start over again, would you go to the same institution?” See more in the Brock News article.

  Tags: Brock University, National Survey of Student Engagement, NSSE, The Brock News
  Categories: Current Students, Future Students, In the Media, News

• Douglas Kneale on Brock’s new performing arts centre

  Monday, November 21, 2011 | By Brock University

  

  Douglas Kneale, Dean of Humanities, in an interview at the Globe and Mail

  Douglas Kneale, Dean, Faculty of Humanities discusses how Brock University’s expansion in the heart of St. Catharines will benefit both students and the local community.

  please see the video here

  Video published Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011 1:27PM EST in the Globe and Mail website

  Tags: Brock University, canada hair cloth building, Douglas Kneale, downtown revitalization, downtown St. Catharines, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, The Globe and Mail
  Categories: In the Media, News