Dartmouth's expanding arts community will soon have increased access to practice and performance spaces as the Hopkins Center undergoes interior renovations.
Beginning this year, the Provost's Office, joined by the campus planning and facilities department, are overseeing two tracks of Hop renovations. Each planning team includes the Hop's resident performing arts departments and student advisory board.
The first track of renovations are very "near-term," and many have already been completed this year, Hop director Jeffrey James said. The remaining updates are part of future planning for an arts district on campus.
"These projects hope to address growing interest from students in all forms of art-making," James said.
Projects include re-purposed spaces adjacent to the Courtyard Cafe, called the "Hop Garage." This winter, the music and theater departments used this area as a creative lab for presentations and workshops. James said he hopes the Garage will hold classrooms and student rehearsals, as well as installation displays. The digital arts exposition's "FABrication lab" showcase will be opening in the Garage this Thursday.
"The name Garage' is meant to denote the flexible creative uses we hope the space will find for students, faculty and visiting artists," James said.
The second course of renovations will address a larger portion of the Hop's needs, providing more practice spaces conducive to student music and theater groups. The additional rooms will also be used for other activities related to art presentation, socializing and dining. Because these renovations are still in the early stages, James said definitive timetables for construction are not yet available.
Emma PeConga '16 said student ensembles currently practice three days a week in rooms in the basement of the Hop. While each group is guaranteed a space, additional rooms are in short supply and are generally available on a first-come, first-served basis.
If a group wishes to split up to practice vocal parts in separate rooms, it does not necessarily have the ability to do so given the limited space, Jimmy Ragan '16, a member of the Dodecaphponics a capella group, said. These groups often find themselves in direct competition with other groups and individual students who are rehearsing, putting pressure on the performers and often precluding them from making the most out of their practice time.
"More practice rooms means less fighting over timeslots for rooms, and also more rooms for musicians to practice their art," Ragan said.
The new Hop renovations endeavor to resolve these conflicts by developing more spacious rehearsal centers throughout the building.
"I think that additional rooms are necessary to ensure that all performance groups have a space equipped for music in which to practice," Ragan said.
The lack of practice rooms has been problematic for several years, Robbie Herbst '16 said.
"I think that new practice rooms will greatly affect not only the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra but the lives of all musicians at Dartmouth," Herbst said.
