The California State University Board of Trustees has approved the schematic design for a new Performing Arts village at California State University San Bernardino.
The university says the $111 million construction and renovation project would add two new buildings to campus—a new Performing Arts Center and an academic building that would serve as an anchor to the College of Arts and Letters.
The project also will renovate the existing performing arts building for future college expansion.
Plans call for the village to open during the 2024-25 academic year
The two new buildings are a 74,817 square-foot Performing Arts Center, with a 500-seat theater and music instruction space south of the Performing Arts Building and a 19,020 square-foot College of Arts and Letters building to the west of the existing Performing Arts Building.
The Performing Arts project will be the first new state-funded academic building on campus under the university’s current master plan. The goals for the College of Arts and Letters expansion include:
- Establishing a physical home for the College of Arts and Letters by co-locating the various college departments, which are now scattered across campus.
- Providing modern teaching, rehearsal and performance spaces necessary for a modern performing arts program. The existing Performing Arts building was completed in 1977 and has not kept pace with the changes in contemporary music instruction.
- The new Performing Arts Center building will create a new “front door” to the campus that shows a modern and forward-looking face to visitors and the larger community.
- Creating a new 500-seat performing arts theater will enable the university to provide a more equitable educational experience that reflects the excellence of its theater arts and music programs. At completion, the theater will be the only one of its size and quality in the Inland Empire, and will enable more of the area’s community to experience the productions from student-performers and student-musicians.
The project’s architect is HGA Architects, and the general contractor is Rudolph and Sletten.
