Northwest Vista College
Palmetto Fine & Performing Arts Center
opening fall 2009!
The heart of the Palmetto Fine & Performing Arts Center is a 400-seat proscenium theatre shared jointly by drama, dance, and music programs. The performance spaces are supported by fully functional scene and costume shops, as well as innovatively designed dressing and green rooms. The facilities enable students of all arts programs to produce full-scale works in each discipline, and to work collaboratively on interdisciplinary projects.
The theatre supports the Fine & Performing Arts Committee's Vis-à-Vis arts and lecture series, which attracts local, regional, national, and international artists for workshops, lectures, and residencies with Northwest Vista College students during the academic year.
Throughout the building are exhibition spaces where students display a multitude of visual works. Between the theatre and the fine arts area, an indoor-outdoor sculpture garden allows students to explore three-dimensional media and environments. The facilities allow for an expanded sculpture program, a new ceramics program, and new media possibilities, as well as the traditional drawing, painting, design, and photography courses that have served as the foundation for fine arts at Northwest Vista College.
The Palmetto Fine & Performing Arts Center features three performance laboratory spaces for experiential learning in drama, dance, and music.
The black box theatre supports theatre classes, labs, and productions. This space is completely flexible, can accommodate up to 100 seats, and is fully equipped with theatrical curtains and lighting, making it an ideal space for student experimentation, learning, and collaboration.
Dance facilities include a 2500 square foot state-of-the-art dance studio theatre, fully equipped with theatrical lighting and ideally suited for multi-media productions. A smaller studio adjacent stocked with specialized conditioning equipment is dedicated to the dancer wellness program.
The music area features a piano laboratory and smaller rooms for private practice and individual study. Two larger spaces function alternately as classrooms, rehearsal areas, intimate recital halls, and a live recording studio. The facilities, which house an ensemble library and instrumentarium, enable students to experience a variety of the world's choral, band, and chamber ensemble repertoires.
The music program also has an electronic music classroom and recording facility located in Redbud Hall. Each student workstation is equipped with MIDI controllers and some of the latest audio software.
Fine & Performing Arts Committee, Department of Fine & Performing Arts and Kinesiology
3535 North Ellison, San Antonio, TX 78251, (201) 486-4088
