Construction and renovations underway in Fine Arts & Media Technology Division

A hallway in Saddleback’s Art Center where rooms will be closed off due to construction work in the summer of 2015. (Photographer/Hannah Tavares)

The Fine Arts & Media Technology Division is currently undergoing various construction projects and renovations that will conclude in the fall of 2015.

The northwestern corner of the first floor of the Learning Resource Center has the most visible signs of ongoing construction. The LRC will be the new home of Saddleback College’s 88.5 FM KSBR radio station and OC Rock Radio.

The rooms will function as a radio station, television studio and a radio editing base, said Dean of Fine Arts & Media Technology Division, Bart McHenry. The station is expected to be completed in September 2015.

“What we are excited about is media conversion, where a lot of students from different areas work together on media,” McHenry said. “So photography students can work with Channel 39. They can work with narrative filmmakers and they can work with radio students. Having students work with each other in the same vicinity is very exciting.”

Saddleback College’s radio and television stations are under construction and will open in September 2015. (Photographer/Anibal Santos)

The photography department tech room, shooting studio, and checkout facility typically operate out of LRC Room 165. However, Room 165 is currently undergoing renovations and will not be reopened until next September, said McHenry.

During construction, the photography tech room has been operating out of LRC Room 115, the Gaucho Cantina, and the photography shooting studio has taken up temporary residency in LRC Room 101’s co-curricular conference room and speech squad room.

“We are using the student speech squad room on Tuesday nights. They have been gracious enough to lend that to us,” said Senior Lab Technician for Photography, Kenneth Kinder. “They have tables in there that fold up and we fold them out of the way. We turn it into a shooting studio.”

LRC 165 is currently under renovation, but when completed  will serve as the photography department’s checkout facility and multipurpose room. (Photographer/Anibal Santos)

The loss of the shooting studio has resulted in the loss of students in the Photo 157 class and the Studio Lighting course, said Kinder.

“[Students] won’t take the class again until they know for sure that we have a studio, so we lost students because of [construction],” Kinder said. “Their expectations were that we would have a studio by now, because that’s what we were told.”

Kinder said that once the facility is completed, the room will serve as a multipurpose room and a shooting studio.

“There will be two shooting bays, so students can come in and use those for their class work and their projects. It will also double as an alternative class, so we can set up other classes in there,” Kinder said. “It’s a multipurpose room, it’s not just a shooting studio, because we can use it for other things as well. We can set up chairs in there and demonstrate how to operate equipment before [students] use it.”

The entire Fine Arts complex including the art, theater and music divisions and division offices (FA100, FA200 and FA300) will be closed in the summer of 2015 due to air conditioning installation. The closure will last for 75 days while installations take place. Many of the windows will also be replaced to help with energy efficiency, McHenry said.

The Fine Arts and Media Technology Division office will also be temporarily moved.

“Everybody is out of here for 75 days,” McHenry said. “All of the offices will be [closed]. We are going to be [located] down at the Village.”

Plans are currently being discussed to decide the most ideal locations to temporarily hold classes during the summer 2015 renovations.

Due to the closure of the McKinney Theatre for air conditioning installation, performances and musicals during the summer will take place outdoors.

“The site for the performances is yet to be determined,” McHenry said.

The McKinney Theatre is also currently in the pre-planning stages of redesigning the exterior of its building, as well as its lobby, he said.

“The Art Gallery will receive a canopy over the entrance door, and will also receive a new ventilation system,” Gallery Director, Bob Rickerson said. “Additionally, its ceiling duct will be repaired.”

According to McHenry, the outdoor sculpture studio is also in its planning stages for redevelopment. It has been closed because of safety concerns since the beginning of fall semester of 2014. A tentative time line for its reopening is yet to be determined.

Comments

comments