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Bell Tower | Arts and SciencesOctober 20, 2022

Windgate Gift to Expand Arts and Arts Education



An $8.8 million gift by the Windgate Foundation to the Art and Design department promises a physical expansion of AV’s iconic arts building and increased class offerings. Both will encourage greater involvement in the arts by students and the public.

“This gift empowers the university to tend to the human needs of every member of our community,” said Katie Waugh, head of Art and Design at AV. “Cultivating overall wellness is crucial for nurturing a functioning society and arts environment.”

Expanding the Windgate Art & Design building and increasing class offerings will begin in 2023. 

“This gift will meaningfully augment every aspect of our department: the ways we educate students in each of our degree programs, the scope of our exhibitions and art collections, and the services and programming we can offer to the River Valley region and broader art communities,” Waugh said.

Increased offerings will affect book arts, 3D design, art history, graphic design, gallery and collections, museum preparator training, sculpture, ceramics, and digital fabrication, Waugh said.

AV already has one of the best-equipped book arts studios in the region, and a new Book Arts Center will increase public access and advance its study and practice.

The expanded building will feature additional workshop spaces, accessible entrances, and common areas; the new spaces will provide a place for collaborations with students, faculty, alumni, and the public. 

AV Chancellor Dr. Terisa Riley said everyone can have the level of faith in the university the Windgate Foundation has.

“The faith to invest every penny they can because they know that we do the right things with their money. Because they know at AV, we dream together about how to make this entire region better. Because every student we graduate is better for having come here, and every place that has the benefit of hiring one of these graduates or recruiting them is in a better place because of what they learned here.”

 

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