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A new arts building called the Patricia Valiant Research Center for the Creative Arts (PRACS) has been constructed on the southeast end of OSU campus. It includes a concert hall, a black box theater, and sound-oriented exhibits. Students and faculty express enthusiasm for the new facilities, but there are also concerns about limitations. The building is designed to be open and accessible, and the Stierich Gallery will feature both traditional art shows and science and technology exhibits. The PRACS aims to showcase different art forms and push the boundaries of creativity. However, some theater students worry about the lack of space for larger productions. The director explains that the design choices were made to balance flexibility and acoustic quality. There are options to utilize other theaters on and off-campus for bigger performances. Overall, the PRACS is seen as a valuable addition to the campus, providing high-quality facilities for artistic expression. On the southeast end of campus at OSU, there is a new arts building. It's called the Patricia Valiant Research Center for the Creative Arts, or the PRACS. Among other things, it holds a concert hall, black box theater, and sound-oriented exhibits. Its construction began in 2021, and three years and $70 million later, we have a new facility for the expression of numerous art forms. Now that it has been open for almost two months, we were curious to learn what people think of the PRACS. Our reporter, Aidan Wilson, spoke with various members of the OSU community, and we discovered a sense of enthusiasm for the new facilities. However, there were also some limitations and challenges mentioned. So join us as we dive into the people's perspective of the PRACS. First, Aidan talked to a couple of faculty members who were involved in the creation of the PRACS. So my name is Peter Swenson. I'm the Patricia Valiant Research Chair and Director of the School of the Arts. This is my second year at OSU, which means that when I first came to campus, PRACS was cinder blocks just kind of emerging from the ground. When I arrived, then I worked very closely with Peter Betjeman, who's the Executive Director of PRACS, for all of the integration between the academic programs and the PRACS programming. Could you just introduce yourself and tell me a bit about what you do here at OSU? Yeah, absolutely. I'm Stephen Zelke, and I'm the Director of Choral Studies and a professor in music. I'm the Patricia Valiant Research Professor of Music, and my work is with choirs. You had a role in the creation of the opening of PRACS. Could you describe your role in that? I was part of it from the very, very beginning. But my actual role now is I'm a user, I'm a client, right? We do choir concerts there. That's really awesome, because that was what my whole goal was. Not to be in charge of the building, but to have the building really be instrumental in moving the arts forward, especially choral music arts, or music in general, bands and choirs and so forth, yeah. In what ways do you think the PRACS will shape the Florida Arts Department in years to come? I've already seen it in terms of how it has elevated the student experience to be able to perform in these kinds of spaces regularly, you know, such an exciting time for the arts. I just feel like we're in this kind of incredible place to showcase what we already do and imagine what we might do next. This is the most important thing that's happened to the arts in forever at Oregon State University. Oregon State University has never built a building that is 100% that is designed for the arts in 150 years, so right now. And so how will it change us? It is going to change us in ways that we cannot imagine. We are going to have things that happen in the arts at OSU that were never possible, and that we do not know what they're going to be. It's going to be amazing. I've got a few more years here. I can't wait to see it. And we couldn't wait to see it either. So we decided to go experience the building for ourselves. Anyone who sees it from the outside will be struck by the design of the exterior. Parts of the building's second floor overhang the first, almost like it's floating. The building is sided with what looks like two by fours. Most of them are stained to be black with some natural wood accents. Windows of random sizes are scattered across the front wall. We walked in through the double glass doors into the big open lobby. Plenty of natural light coming in. A piece of 3D art hung from the ceiling, almost like a futuristic chandelier. Director Peter Swenson says this design is all very intentional. One of the big things was for the whole building to feel very open and accessible, you know, which you literally sort of sense with like all the windows, even in the gallery, which is very unusual to have a big window there. It's a building that's basically open all day, every day. So students, you know, down the hallway there, just hanging out studying, for instance. It's meant to be very, just part of students' daily life on campus, so I think that's one thing that really has come to fruition. Jumping back to our visit of the practice, just off the lobby is the Stierich Gallery, which currently holds an audio exhibit. The Stierich Gallery, which is amazing, it's tremendous, I mean, there's nothing like this on our campus. We finally have a first-rate gallery for showings. So that's going to go back and forth between kind of traditional art shows, you know, where you maybe have sculpture or paintings or whatever, and kind of more science and technology, and that's one of the things that's going to make, I mean, that room is completely ready to go any way for science and technology. This space is versatile, and we'll always have something fresh for people to visit and learn about. Back to our visit in the lobby, there was a middle-aged guy standing on this geometric wooden stage holding a multicolored LED light tube. So my name is Chet, and this thing right here is called the Optron, and it's actually inspired by... He's dressed in pink skinny jeans and a Dragon Ball Z t-shirt. To go with all of that, he puts on some silver wraparound sunglasses. After clicking a few things on his MacBook, he begins to play his instrument by hovering his hand over different parts of the LED tube. I can feel it coming in the air. It's coming, it's coming, it's coming. Oh Lord. That day, we also saw a concert of an instrument called the theremin. It is played without physical contact, instead by using your hands to manipulate electromagnetic fields surrounding two metal rods. It creates an eerie but still beautiful sound. Here is some theremin played with piano. And according to executives and professors like Dr. Zilke, this is the kind of thing that we should expect from the practice going forward. This is not a competition for the arts trying to get space on STEM campus. This is a way for a STEM campus to realize its full potential. They need us more than we need them. They desperately need us. So, after speaking with some of the people involved in the practice and experiencing it for ourselves, it is clear that the new building is a great addition to the campus. The facilities are high quality, and the performances we saw demonstrated the potential of this place. But the student performers who we spoke with also had some concerns with the limitations of the facilities. Next year, it's most, if not almost all of the theater performances are in that Ed Ray theater, right? How do you see that working, you know? I'm a little skeptical, if I'm going to be honest. As a stage manager for the ONEx this spring, fourth-year theater student Noah Fox has had a chance to experience the Black Box firsthand. That is a Black Box theater, and Black Box theaters are made for very small, intimate shows. What I'm questioning, or what I'm interested to see, is are we able to do big-name shows that will require big sets? Right now, I'm not sure if we have the ability to do that. So, I'm just worried that we're not going to, or I'm just skeptical to see how that's going to play out. If we want to do big main stage productions, how are they going to use that space? I was a little disheartened when they were like, oh, we have this great main stage, this main concert hall. I was like, great, awesome, this is going to be a beautiful proscenium that we're going to be able to do. And they're like, oh, it's just for performing in a band and choir. And I was like, oh, oh, okay. But, that's good for them. That's what they needed. That's what they've been asking for for years. So, I totally understand that. Aidan brought up these concerns with director Peter Swenson. Theater students are very excited and grateful to have this new facility, and the Black Box is amazing. However, there are some concerns with the fact that there isn't a larger-scale performance than, say, a tech fly system. Right. Yeah, it's a great question. I think it's a question that sort of theater as a whole is grappling with right now. And in a venue like this, one of the fundamental questions is what you gain and what you give up by making those sorts of spaces. So, in the concert hall space, for instance, to have a full proscenium with fly space and everything else, you give up some of the acoustic tunability, right? And so, the precision of the listening experience in the concert hall is lessened by adding that flexibility. I wouldn't claim that, like, one is better than the other, either for us or anybody else. An awful lot happens in this kind of Black Box setting in the professional theater world right now. Yeah. So, I think it's good for our students to be in a world where they can shape and create what that experience is like for the production, case by case. Okay. But, we'll see. I see the reasoning and the logic on both sides of that. It's worth mentioning that there are other options on and off of campus for these larger performances. I mean, technically speaking, LaSalle's is a giant proscenium theater. Can it be used for a theater? It could be, but it's really too big. Okay. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. To my mind, you know. It's a very big space. It's a very big space. It's tricky to find that in between. So, the opera production that we just did, we actually used the Ashbrook School, which is across town. And, that's kind of a nice sort of medium size proscenium space with fly space, you know. And, it might be that that kind of arrangement is actually the best fit for us when we know we have a show that needs those things. We do have theaters in Corvallis, you know, Ashbrook being one of them and a couple in town that can be utilized when we need to supplement what we have here. We'll also get back by the end of next academic year, the Lab Theater in Lithicum, which is a sort of different kind of black box space where the student productions and a bunch of our classes will happen. So, we'll have a little more wiggle room of that, too. At one point, some expected a big proscenium at the Prax. When it was still in the early days of planning and eventually under construction, general expectations were high for what the building would have. Second-year music student Mo Campbell says there was a lot of hype around the scale of the facilities. At least my whole freshman year, they were talking about like, oh, Praxis, Praxis, like it's gonna be so much fun. You're gonna get new lockers. You're gonna get new classrooms. You're gonna get da-da-da-da. And it's like, new rehearsal space. And it's like, we didn't get anything that they told us that we would actually get. Unfulfilled promises. Yeah. It's like they hyped it up and then like they changed their minds. But we still thought it was gonna be awesome. We were so excited. Dr. Zielke says this hype was built up because of the ambition of the original plans for the Prax. I think maybe the first building that we looked at was $125 million. And so I think the original goal for the building was that it would become an academic and performance home for art and music. I mean, sorry, theater and music. I think the early expectations were that the facility would actually do a lot more than it is now doing. The project budget was basically between $70 and $75 million. And I think our expectations were unreasonable. We budgeted the most that we believed was possible. We didn't budget what you wanted. We didn't even budget what you needed. We budgeted what was possible. And so we immediately had to completely rethink the scope of the project. Because there was no way we were gonna find a way to, you know, put in crappy flooring and get that project down to $75 million. If you need to reduce the budget, there's only one way to reduce the budget. And that is to do what they call, the designers, you reduce the program. Meaning what you hope to do with the building. And from our point of view, we were reducing the scope of it, right? That the building would end up being a little bit less academic focused than we had originally hoped. Which of course was discouraging. I mean, you know, the process was full of moments of discouragement, you know. But, you know, you have to take what you have and make something impactful, meaningful, beautiful. But second year music student Mo Campbell feels as though the building has turned into less of a learning environment. I feel like a person who was behind all of it and made decisions about it and knew what was happening. I feel like it's a pretty good building. It's doing what it's supposed to do. Everything's going according to plan. I know what they're doing for the students and I know that it's good. It just feels like it's not for us. Which is kind of upsetting. I think stepping into Prax like that first time. I was getting my tickets for the Winnebago concert and I stepped in there and I was like, this does not look like classrooms to me. It looks like a bunch of open space and a bunch of little money making things. It should be said that there are a couple of smaller sized classrooms, but some students were hoping for more in terms of learning space. In summary, the Prax did have a lot of high expectations during the construction process, but budget cuts meant a reduced scope of the project. Despite the flaws of the Prax, students are still optimistic for the opportunities that it will give them in the arts. It is a beautiful, beautiful building. My jaw was a drop when I came in here and I saw it for the first time. I toured around it and it was just amazing to think that this is something that's going to be here for the rest of time. This is going to be something that is going to be the new home for the performing arts at OSU. We've been blessed with this beautiful space and this amazing equipment. It's incredibly advanced. It's incredibly high tech. All of the stuff we have is brand spanking new. Working in here has been really, really fun, which is really great because that's what college is. It's supposed to get you geared and get some experience under your belt and ready for the professional world. We're taking that next step with this for sure. That's what it feels like, is that we're going from one level to a completely other level. It's a beautiful next step for the OSU Theater Department. I think this is only just the beginning. I think that Prax could be the heart, but we need to start building other parts of this body as well and connecting it to the rest of the campus. The Prax here at OSU may not be perfect, and there are different perspectives on the way the building has been put together. That being said, it will undoubtedly be crucial for the arts going forward. But don't take our word for it. Instead, go see it for yourself. Check out the Sonic Boom exhibit, see a concert, or even a play in the Black Box Theater and build your own perspective of the Prax. We hope you have enjoyed our episode about the Prax at OSU. Again, the interviews were done by our reporter, Aidan Wilson. Our editor is Gracie Winchell. Our writer and narrator is me, Noah Kleinanz. Special thanks to our interviewees, Mo Campbell, Noah Fox, Peter Swenson, and Steven Zielke. Thank you for listening. ♪
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