CFA is entering into a time of innovation, revitalization and transformation, focusing on our physical places and operational spaces, as well as services and opportunities for our students and faculty. We are not just striving to build structures, but to enhance our current assets and further engage and inspire our students and faculty.
New and revitalized physical spaces cultivate fresh ideas and invite a wide range of possibilities, while responding to the current and future market needs in all our disciplines.
“We are so excited for these wonderful additions to our Westchester campus – symbols of LMU’s creativity, energy, passion and dedication to our students and community,” said CFA Dean Bryant Keith Alexander, Ph.D.
Drollinger Family Stage
Currently under construction, this structure will provide increased performance opportunities and other instructional and programming opportunities for CFA departments and the wider LMU community. Anchored in Lawton Plaza, CFA has re-imagined this space with a modern outdoor performance stage, with the intention of hosting a wide variety of live theatrical and dance events, music concerts, public lectures, and ceremonies.
In addition to using the Drollinger Stage to host music, theatre and dance performances, including the Shakespeare on the Bluff Festival, CFA will inaugurate an expanded performing arts and lecture series utilizing the new space. Construction is slated for completion at the end of the Fall 2021 semester, and once finished will invite formal engagement between our college campus and the community, with a particular emphasis on inviting our Westchester neighbors to enjoy our campus.
Music
LMU Music is also debuting some fresh new classroom and rehearsal spaces this year. Instructional spaces have been refreshed and upgraded with new learning tools, and construction is nearing completion on a Music Technology Lab to support our new music concentration in contemporary styles and practices. Burns 129 was renovated to create a new piano/ensemble studio including a grand piano, and Burns 111, which previously housed the choral library, was re-imagined as an additional studio space including a Steinway grand piano. These enhancements will build on some of the recent successes of this growing department, which welcomed its largest freshman class in years this semester.
One Button Studio
The upcoming year will also see CFA fully activate its One-Button Studio, which will be located in Foley Hall. The One Button Studio is a simplified video recording setup that can be used without any previous video production experience. The studio will be equipped with a combination of special hardware and software that allows users to simply plug a flash drive into a USB port and push a button to start recording. The design of the studio will simplify the recording process, allowing our students, faculty and staff to create high-quality and polished video projects without previous recording expertise.
Media Lab
To capitalize on increasing student interest and world markets in the analysis of media, we are developing a Communication Studies Media Lab and Learning Space, allowing for improved individualized and collective class engagement across the largest major in our college.
Planned technological enhancements will make possible national and international teleconferencing, co-teaching and lon-distance interaction capabilities with top scholars, public figures and news-makers. With open access to live media and social media coverage, the space will assist in teaching through video capture of public speaking and group presentations.