News

  • A major step towards the opening of the St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre

    Friday, September 27, 2013 | By

    Algoma Central Corporation presenting the $250,000 donation

    Algoma Central Corporation presenting the $250,000 donation

    The construction of the St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre took a new step towards completion on August 15, 2013. The first crane was erected over the site at the same time the first corporate gift was unveiled. The $250,000 donation from Algoma Central Corporation will secure the name for the lobby of the new facility. This space will be the most central area of the $60.7-million building, $18 million of which was donated by the Government of Canada and $18 million of which was donated by the Government of Ontario.

    City officials see this donation and the erection of the first crane as major steps towards making the dream of the revitilization of the area into reality.

    The St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre will include four performance spaces: a 775-seat concert hall, 300-seat recital hall, 187-seat film theatre and a 210-seat theatre/dance venue.

    When the facility is opened in the fall of 2015, it is expected to host 600 events every year and see 125,000 visitors annually.

    A webcam focused upon the progress of the construction of the Performing Arts Centre can be seen here. The progress of the Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts facility can be seen in the upper right corner of the video feed. The school is anticipated to welcome over 600 students, staff and faculty in the fall of 2015.

    The St. Catharines Standard did a full article on the event.

     

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    Categories: News

  • The Walker Cultural Leader Series 2013- 14

    Thursday, August 08, 2013 | By

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    The Walker Cultural Leader series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society. Please join us.

    This educational program is generously funded by Marilyn I. Walker.

     

     

    david-jalbert-wcls-music-220x220

    David Jalbert

    Pianist David Jalbert performs regularly as a soloist and recitalist across North America and Europe.

    Jalbert will present a recital of Bach’s masterpiece, The Goldberg Variations, as well as conduct a masterclass for Brock piano students.

     

    Sept. 20

    • Public Performance: J.S. Bach’s The Goldberg Variations at 7:30 pm, Sean O’Sullivan Theatre (free to MIWSFPA students; adults $15.04; seniors and students $10; eyeGo high school program $5)

    Tickets available at the Centre for the Arts Box Office 905.688.5550905.688.5550 x3257 or visit Arts.BrockU.ca (Prices do not include HST)

    Sept. 21

    • Piano Masterclass: Music students at 10 am-12 noon, Sean O’Sullivan Theatre (closed session); MIWSPFA students are invited to attend as audience members.

    CONTACT: Prof. Matthew Royal, Music, [email protected]

    David Jalbert has recorded CDs of solo piano music by John Corigliano and Frederic Rzewski, Gabriel Fauré, Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as his most recent release, the work featured in the Walker School concert, Bach’s Goldberg Variations. He is also an accomplished chamber musician, being a member of the piano trio Triple Forte, and has accompanied cellist Denise Djokic, French hornist Louis-Philippe Marsolais, and the wind quintet Pentaèdre, among others. Jalbert has won two Opus Awards (from the Conseil Québécois de la Musique) and was the 2007 laureate of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize of the Canada Council for the Arts. He studied at the Juilliard School, the Glenn Gould School, the Université de Montréal, and the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec, and is now a professor of piano at the University of Ottawa.

     

     

    patrice-baldwin_dart-image-220x220Patrice Baldwin

    Patrice Baldwin is a world leader in Drama, Education and the Arts in learning, and their connections to the latest developments in Neuroscience.

    Baldwin will spend eight days teaching, speaking, and giving demonstration classes at Brock and throughout the Niagara peninsula.

     

    Oct. 3 & 8

    • Teaching/Demonstrations: DART 1F95, 2P01, 3P03, 3F92 students, scheduled class times (closed session)

    Oct. 5

    • Drama in Education Intensive Workshop: 9:30 am – 5:30 pm,Centre Stage Theatre School and Productions, 3505 Mainway, Burlington, ON (free for DART students; all others $20 to cover costs for refreshments and venue). Limited registration.

    Oct. 7

    • Teaching/Demonstration Classes: FOE pre-service and DART students and alumni, 8 am – 2 pm, Faculty of Education (FOE), Hamilton Campus, 1842 King St. East, Hamilton, ON (closed session)

    Oct. 9

    • Teaching/Demonstrations in Niagara Schools: FOE pre-service students, DART students and alumni, and Niagara teachers (closed session)
    • Public Lecture: “Neuroscience, Creativity, and Learning: Recent Research and Connections to Drama in Education and Arts-Based Learning,” 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Pond Inlet (free community event)

    CONTACT: Georgann Watson, Dramatic Arts, [email protected]

    Patrice Baldwin is president of the International Drama, Theatre and Education Association (IDEA), and Chair of National Drama (the UK’s leading professional association for drama teachers and theatre educators), and is also an Executive Forum member of the World Alliance for Arts Education. A renowned advocate for the Arts and Drama Education, she is a prolific and respected author, with a particular interest in: Drama as a way of teaching literacy and as a way of learning across the curriculum; Drama and Arts-based creativity; and Drama and Neuroscience. Baldwin, a visiting lecturer at the University of Warwick, is known for her lectures, keynote addresses, and workshops at international conferences.

     

     

    davidwaldenphoto-cstac-220x220David Walden

    A long-time senior manager in the Canadian cultural sector, David Walden recently retired as Secretary-General, Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

    Walden will present two public talks: one on the role of culture in international development, and the other on Canadian cultural property legislation.

     

    Oct. 21

    • Seminar: STAC 4P68 students, 1 pm, Rm. PL 311 (closed session)

    Oct. 22

    • Class: STAC 4F40 students, 3 pm, Rm. PL 408 (closed session)

    Oct. 23

    • Public Lecture: “Culture and Development -The Missing Link,” 7:30 pm, Sankey Chambers (free community event)

    Oct. 24

    • Public Lecture: “Art, Taxes, and the Public Good – how Canadian cultural property rules help artists, collectors,
      museums, and the public,” 7 pm, Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines, ON (free community event)

    Oct. 28

    • Seminar: STAC 4P68 students, 1 pm, Rm. PL 311 (closed session)

    CONTACT: Prof. Sharilyn Ingram, STAC, [email protected]

    From 1984 to 1999, David Walden held the positions of Secretary to the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board and Director of the Movable Cultural Property Program in the Department of Canadian Heritage. His numerous international involvements include chairing the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation; the International Network on Cultural Policy; and the UN Economic Commission for Europe Meeting on Sustainable Development.

    A member of the Executive Management Committee of the Canada Council for the Arts from 1999 through 2013, Walden currently works as a consultant in international organizations and governance. He was recently named an Honourary Lifetime Member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

     

     

    altheaheadshot11-2-220x220Althea Thauberger

    Althea Thauberger is an artist based in Vancouver, BC. She was a 2011 finalist for the Grange Prize and her work is represented by Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto.

    Visual Arts students will have the opportunity to collaborate with Thauberger to produce an experimental documentary video on the future move of the Walker School to downtown St. Catharines, ending with a public screening and discussion.

     

    Oct. 28

    • Artist’s Talk: 7 – 10 pm, Pond Inlet (free community event)

    Oct. 29 – 31

    • Student Seminar Series: Brock campus and Fourgrounds Media, 31 James St., St. Catharines, ON (closed session)

    Nov. 1

    • Public Panel Discussion: 7 pm, Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines, ON (free community event)

    Nov. 2 – 7

    • Workshop: Video Production for participating students Brock campus and Fourgrounds Media, 31 James St., St. Catharines, ON (closed session)

    Nov. 8

    • Public Screening and Discussion: 7 – 10 pm, Rm. AS 215 (free community event)

    CONTACT: Prof. Donna Szoke, Visual Arts, [email protected]

    Driven by her interest in collaboration, Althea Thauberger’s internationally produced and exhibited work involves interactions with well-defined groups of people and communities. While Thauberger’s practice defies strict definition by medium, she has produced remarkable films, videos, photographs, and performances over the course of her decade-long career. Her unique facility for collaboration is the thread that connects her projects as well as her thoughtful engagement with groups of people as her subjects. She works with these communities to develop performances that offer the participants opportunities for self-exploration and self-definition. Whether videos or photographs, the final works Thauberger produces are always striking documents that entice, engage and surprise her viewers. Her work has been presented recently at the Liverpool Biennial (2012); 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2009); and The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2009).

     

     

    Jill Dolan

    Jill Dolan is the Annan Professor of English and Professor of Theater at Princeton University, where she also directs the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies.

    Dolan will give a masterclass in online arts criticism, as well as a public lecture on “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings.” She will participate in a colloquium and open roundtable on the changing face of arts criticism in the digital age.

     

    Feb. 20

    • Masterclass in Online Arts Criticism: DART 3P95/96 students 2 – 5 pm, Rm. TH 257 (closed session)

    Feb. 21

    • Public Lecture: “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings” 10 am, Sankey Chambers (free community event). Presented in association with the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies
    • Colloquium: “The changing face of arts criticism in the digital age,”     2 – 6 pm, Sankey Chambers Keynote and presentations. (free community event)

    2:00 pm – 2:30 pm

    • WELCOME AND PRESENTATION by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism

    2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

    • PANEL DISCUSSION: Critics and the arts in Niagara
    • Chair: David Fancy, associate professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, co-artistic director, neXt Company Theatre.
    • Participants: Monica Dufault, artistic director, Essential Collective Theatre; 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
    • Respondent: Jill Dolan

    4:15 pm – 5:45 pm

    • PANEL DISCUSSION: Embedded criticism: a new way forward, or criticism-as-PR?
    • Chair: Lawrence Switzky, assistant professor of Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga
    • Participants: Maddy Costa, critic and blogger, London, UK; Karen Fricker, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University; Andy Horwitz, founder, Culturebot.org, New York; Jackie Maxwell, artistic director, Shaw Festival
    • Respondent: Jacob Gallagher-Ross, assistant professor of Theatre, State University of New York at Buffalo

    Feb. 22

    • Colloquium cont’d.: “The changing face of arts criticism in the digital age,” 10 am – 1 pm, Sankey Chambers. There will be a roundtable component (free community event)

    10:00 am – 10:30 am

    • WELCOME AND PRESENTATION by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism

    10:30 am – 12:00 pm

    • PANEL DISCUSSION: Bloggers, critics, and cultural legitimation
    • Chair: Karen Fricker
    • Participants: Jill Dolan; J. Kelly Nestruck, lead theatre critic, The Globe and Mail; Richard Ouzonian, lead theatre critic, Toronto Star; Holger Syme, Chair, Department of English, University of Toronto at Mississauga, and blogger; Odette Yazbeck, director of public relations, Shaw Festival
    • Respondent: Andy Horwitz

    12:15 pm – 1:00 pm

    • COLLOQUIUM WRAP-UP
    • Chair: Karen Fricker
    • Participants: Maddy Costa; Jill Dolan; Rosemary Drage Hale, Director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Brock University; Andy Horwitz

    CONTACT: Prof. Karen Fricker, Dramatic Arts, [email protected]

    Jill Dolan is the author of The Feminist Spectator as Critic (1989, 2012); Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre (2005); Theatre & Sexuality (2010); and many other books and essays. She won the 2011 Outstanding Teacher Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and a lifetime achievement award from the Women and Theatre Program (2011). She writes The Feminist Spectator blog at TheFeministSpectator.com, for which she won the 2010-11 George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism. A book of her selected blog posts and new essays, The Feminist Spectator in Action: Feminist Criticism for Stage and Screen, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in July 2013. Her full bio can be found at princeton.edu/arts/arts_at_princeton/theater/professor_bios/dolan/

     

     

    wcls-ensemble-vivant-1-220x220Ensemble Vivant

    Ensemble Vivant have recorded for such labels as Fanfare, Pro Arte, Doremi, SPY and Opening Day/Universal and Opening Day Entertainment Group, and their recordings are heard on classical radio around the world.

    Ensemble Vivant, under the direction of Catherine Wilson, will present a concert with commentary on The Fugue, as well as give a masterclass on small ensemble playing for Brock music students.

     

    Mar. 28

    • Public Performance: The Fugue, 7:30 pm, Sean O’Sullivan Theatre (free to MIWSFPA students; adults $15.04; seniors and students $10; eyeGo high school program $5)

    Tickets available at the Centre for the Arts Box Office 905.688.5550905.688.5550 x3257 or visit Arts.BrockU.ca (Prices do not include HST)

    Mar. 29

    • Masterclass: Music students, 10 am – 12:30 pm Sean O’Sullivan Theatre; MIWSPFA students are invited to attend as
      audience members. (closed session)

    CONTACT: Prof. Matthew Royal, Music, [email protected]

    Ensemble Vivant consists of pianist, founder and artistic director, Catherine Wilson, as well as Sybil Shanahan (cello), Don Thompson (acoustic bass, vibraphone), Erica Beston (violin) and Norman Hathaway (violin, viola). Championing a unique genre-diverse repertoire in their concerts and recordings since the group first came on the scene in the late 1980s, Ensemble Vivant has received critical acclaim for its work in the classical piano-trio literature, as well as for its forays into the worlds of ragtime, jazz and tango. Hailed as “Canada’s Chamber Music treasure.” –  Toronto Star

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    Categories: Events, Walker Cultural Leader Series

  • Technical Theatre Job Opportunity in the Department of Dramatic Arts

    Monday, July 15, 2013 | By

    miwsfpa-icon-220IATSE 01/2013 Theatre Technical Production Assistant, Department of Dramatic Arts (DART), Faculty of Humanities 

    (closes Friday, July 19, 2013)

    Reporting to the Production Manager and/or Technical Director, the Theatre Technical Production Assistant is responsible for providing the technical elements for departmental production and teaching, supporting teaching of technical production by instruction or lab demonstration, supervising and maintaining DART spaces, technical inventory and equipment, and coordinating and supervising students and hired technicians.

    for more information and to apply please please see this page for the posting

    download the posting in a PDF file

    Inquiries about the job opportunity may be sent to the Production Manager, Brian Cumberland [email protected]

    Inquiries about the Department and its programs may be sent to the Chair, Professor David Vivian [email protected]

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    Categories: Department/Centre News, News

  • Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is breaking new ground

    Thursday, June 13, 2013 | By

    miw-celebration-3

    From left: Douglas Kneale, Dean, Faculty of Humanities; John Suk, Vice-Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Jack Lightstone, Brock University President and Vice-Chancellor; Jim Bradley, MPP, St. Catharines; Marilyn I. Walker; Mark Elliott, councilor, City of St. Catharines; Joe Robertson, Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Derek Knight, director, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

    Faculty, students, senior administration and local politicians gathered on Friday May 31st to celebrate the ground-breaking ceremony for the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. With a budget of $39.6 million, the project will transform the former Canada Haircloth textile mill into an educational, creative and presentation complex of some 600 students, faculty and staff. Following the move to full construction mode in January 2012 the faculty, staff and students will begin their work in the innovative facility at 198 St. Paul in September 2015.

    Noting that the new facility will be “an economic hub for arts and digital media” and fuel the revitalization of downtown St. Catharines, Jack Lightstone, President and Vice-Chancellor of Brock University, remarked told the gathering that the new Walker School “is a tribute to the concept of community partnership. This is much more than a building. It is a statement about what can happen when many hands work together to build a better future.”

    Douglas Kneale, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, described the new facility for the school as a “living, breathing furnace of innovation” where artists of all disciplines “collide creatively …like sparks off a flint.” He continued:
    “In return, the community of St. Catharines will catch fire and experience in new ways the transcendence, the ache, the wow that only the arts can give us.”

    The facility project includes the renovation of existing buildings, some of which date to the mid-19th century, and the construction of new purpose-built facilities. In order to preserve the visual appeal of the historic architecture much of the retrofitting and renovation will take place indoors. The landmark’s exterior will be refurbished with new windows and restored brickwork.

    The project received $26.2 million from the Ontario government and is also being supported by generous partners from across the community. Marilyn I. Walker’s gift of $15 million was the remarkable catalyst for the creation of this much-anticipated complex that will serve the teaching, learning, and creative research in the fine and performing arts at Brock University.

    As well as shared spaces such as the new MIWSFPA learning commons, digital media lab, and praxis lecture hall, the department of Dramatic Arts will enjoy four performance studios (two of which can be used for public presentation), a carpentry and woodworking shop, costume shop and storage facility, design studio, and a new flexible studio theatre for teaching and presentation twelve months of the year.  The Department of Visual Arts will also be programming a new Visual Arts Exhibition Gallery, adjacent.

    Students of the School will also be using the film/video theatre and music recital hall built by the City of St. Catharines in the adjacent Performing Arts Center also scheduled to open in 2015.

    You can follow the construction of the Performing Arts Centre and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (top of screen) at the Performing Arts Centre Construction Cam.

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    Categories: News

  • Groundbreaking ceremony for the Walker School

    Friday, May 31, 2013 | By

    miw-celebration-3

    From left: Douglas Kneale, Dean, Faculty of Humanities; John Suk, Vice-Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Jack Lightstone, Brock University President and Vice-Chancellor; Jim Bradley, MPP, St. Catharines; Marilyn I. Walker; Mark Elliott, councilor, City of St. Catharines; Joe Robertson, Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Derek Knight, director, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

    May 31, 2013
    University Marketing & Communications
    905-688-5550 x4687

    Supporters raise a cheer as downtown Walker School takes shape

    Partners, politicians and downtown boosters joined Brock University officials today in a celebration at the St. Catharines construction site that will be the new home of Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

    Amid scaffolding and construction equipment, workers paused for about 30 minutes while guests got a close-up look at the progress and saluted the efforts of designers, engineers and project leaders who have stewarded the major initiative through more than two years of planning.

    Marilyn Walker herself wielded a shovel alongside University President Jack Lightstone, Brock Board Chair Joe Robertson and other officials for a ceremonial ground-breaking, even though the site has been a hive of activity for several months.

    With a budget of $39.6 million, the project will transform the former Canada Haircloth textile mill into an innovative teaching facility whose 500 students, faculty and staff will help revitalize the city centre when they relocate from Brock’s main campus in 2015. Situated between a new Performing Arts Centre and a new Spectator Facility, which are being built by the City of St. Catharines, the school is one of several major projects that will dramatically change the face of the city core.

    The Brock project received $26.2 million from the Ontario government, and is also being supported by numerous generous partners from across the community.

    Lightstone told today’s gathering that the new Walker School “is a tribute to the concept of community partnership. This is much more than a building. It is a statement about what can happen when many hands work together to build a better future.”

    The project moved into full construction mode in January after Brock entered into an agreement with the low bidder, Bird Construction Group. Much of the project involves renovating existing buildings, parts of which are from the area’s industrial heritage and date to the 19th century. While the retrofitting will largely take place indoors, the landmark’s exterior will be visually refreshed with new windows and restored brickwork. Plus there will also be new construction when a dramatic arts theatre rises in the coming months and invigorates the downtown landscape.

    For more info: Jeffrey Sinibaldi, media relations, Brock University, 905-688-5550 x4687; [email protected]

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    Categories: Media Releases, News

  • View the new MIWSFPA promotional video

    Friday, March 15, 2013 | By

    The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts has released a new promotional video highlighting our departments and centre. View the video below:

     

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Future Students, News

  • New Walker series opens doors for arts students and the public

    Tuesday, February 12, 2013 | By

    BROCK UNIVERSITY
    MEDIA RELEASE

    February 12, 2013
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    905.688.5550 x4765

    New Walker series opens doors for arts students and the public

    A major series of cultural events, workshops and performances being launched this fall by Brock University will provide new learning experiences for students, and in many cases will also be open to the public.

    The Walker Cultural Leader Series will see leading artists, performers and academics convene more than a dozen events in disciplines ranging from animation to classical music and theatrical performance. The events will take place on campus as well as in the community.

    Presented by Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), the series opens Oct. 16-19 with workshops, studio visits and performances by Sobey Award-winning performer and animator Daniel Barrow.

    The series will also feature presentations by Joan Watson, principal horn of the Canadian Opera Company; performer and author Stephen Nachmanovitch; acclaimed Canadian pianist Robert Silverman; and Daniel Levinson, an expert in movement and stage combat.

    The new series is being funded thanks to the Marilyn I. Walker Fund, an endowed fund created in 2008, when Marilyn Walker donated $15 million to Brock’s school of fine and performing arts.

    Derek Knight, director of the Walker School, said the main objective of the series is to engage students, but pointed out many sessions are open to the community.

    “The new series is committed to inviting varied and interesting guest speakers,” said Knight. “It will be engaging, lively and erudite. These sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society.”

    Douglas Kneale, Dean of Humanities at the University, said the initiative is another step forward for Brock on the academic, cultural and community fronts.

    “Thanks to the generosity of Marilyn I. Walker, we are able to offer students unique interactions with creative leaders in the fine and performing arts, and also extend to the community educational and cultural opportunities that will be enormously enriching.”

    The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is comprised of the departments of Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual Arts, and the Centre for Studies in Arts & Culture.

    For more info and follow-up interviews: Marie Balsom, Communications, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University, 905-688-5550 x4765; [email protected]

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    Categories: Media Releases, News

  • Industrial Fabric 3: Festival of the Arts

    Saturday, February 02, 2013 | By

    ifbannerbrock

    Download a copy of the Industrial Fabric 3 Brochure

    Industrial Fabric is a festival of student art, imaginative performances and musical collaboration presented by the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.
    Engage in two months of events that will stimulate the mind while demonstrating the vitality and vibrancy of the Arts at Brock University – on stage, in studios and galleries, and at regional venues.

     

    Dramatic Arts Events

    • Gimme 2 Festival: March 1 at 8 p.m.
    • One Acts Festival: March 15 & 16 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
    • An Acre of Time by Jason Sherman: April 11, 12 & 13 at 7:30 p.m.
    • Theatre Design Projects: March 24 – April 11, Opening Reception March 26, 5 – 6 p.m.

    Music Events

    •  Odessa/Havana: March 1 at 7:30 p.m.
    • Jeunesses Musicales – Così fan tutte: March 28 at 7:30 p.m.
    • The University Wind Ensemble – Around the World in 80 Minutes: April 2 at 7:30 p.m.
    • Let the Music Resound: April 6 at 7:30 p.m.
    • Spring Suites: April 27 at 7:30 p.m.
    • Tuesday Music @ Noon: Tuesdays from 12 noon (Sean O’Sullivan Theatre)
      • Recital: Voice students: March 5
      • Recital: Instrumental students: March 12
      • Recital: Voice students: March 19
      • Recital: Instrumental students: March 26
      • Recital: Piano students: April 2
    • Student Recitals:
      • Stephanie Browning, mezzo-soprano, with Lesley Kingham, piano: March 22 at 7:30 p.m.
      • Charlotte Mahy, clarinet, with Lesley Kingham, piano: April 3 at 7:30 p.m.
      • Jorgo Kalo, piano: April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
      • Nathan Pol, trumpet, with Gary Forbes, piano April 5 at 7:30 p.m.

    Visual Arts Events

    • Exhibition: Renew: March 2 – 15, Opening Reception March 2 at 7 p.m.
    • Exhibition: Time and Space: April 8, 8 – 10 p.m.
    • Video Installation: Donna Szoke – Invisible Histories: April 26 – 28, Opening Reception April 28, 7 – 11 p.m.
    • Exhibition: VISA Honours:
      • VISA 4F06 Exhibition I: March 30 – April 14, Opening Reception Friday April 5, 7 – 9 p.m.
      • VISA 4F06 Exhibition II: April 20 – May 5, Opening Reception April 19, 7 – 9 p.m.

    Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture

    • In The Works: Art Talk with Donna Akrey, Scott Sawtell and Jessica Thompson: March 2 at 3 p.m.

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    Categories: Events, Industrial Fabric

  • Brock signs contract to build arts school

    Friday, January 18, 2013 | By

    Marilyn I Walker School of performing arts building rendering

    (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.

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  • Brock reaches arts school deal

    Friday, January 18, 2013 | By

    Marilyn I Walker School of performing arts building rendering

    (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.

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