Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center
Mort and Irma Handel
Overview:
The University of Hartford Performing Arts Complex will provide new performance spaces, rehearsal halls, teaching rooms, and studios for the internationally renowned, 85-year-old Hartt School, alleviating significant space shortages in the school's existing building and providing state-of-the-art facilities for Hartt students and the community alike.
Dramatic Growth of an Outstanding School:
When the Fuller Music Center opened its doors in 1962, The Hartt School enrolled 250 college students and 1,000 Community Division students. Today, these figures have risen to 700 and 2,500 respectively, with added faculty and greatly expanded academic offerings. Hartt also hosts a schedule of over 400 concerts, recitals, dance performances, plays, master classes, and musical theatre productions in the aging Fuller Center. The continued growth of the student body has forced the School to rent off-campus space.
The New Facility:
The University launched the first phase of its Performing Arts Complex project on June 18, 2007 during a festive construction kickoff ceremony attended by more than 200 people. President Walter Harrison announced that the main building will be named the Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center.
“Mort and Irma Handel have shared our vision for this project from the beginning. Their $1.5 million commitment – the largest gift from individual donors to the Performing Arts Center – is just the latest chapter in their long history of support for the University of Hartford, The Hartt School, and the Hartford arts community,” Harrison said. Mort Handel, chairman of the board of Marvel Entertainment, has been a trustee of The Hartt School and a regent of the University of Hartford since 1990. Irma Handel is a trustee of the Hartford Art School, Inc.
The Performing Arts Complex project will transform the former Thomas Cadillac distributorship at the corner of Albany Avenue and Westbourne Parkway in Hartford into a vibrant center for performing arts education. The complex will provide much-needed additional space for The Hartt School, while at the same time serving as an economic catalyst and cultural resource for Hartford’s Upper Albany and Blue Hills neighborhoods. The project will preserve the unique exterior character of the three buildings on the site, which were designed in 1929 by pioneering industrial architect Albert Kahn.
Construction on the first phase of the project began in July, and the main building – the 55,000-square-foot Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center – is scheduled to open in the fall of 2008. The building will house The Hartt School’s Theatre and Dance Divisions, as well as some additional community programs. It will include two black box theaters, dance studios, classrooms, faculty offices and space for community functions.
"With the new Performing Arts Center, The Hartt School will finally have a home that matches the exceptional quality of its programs," said Hartt School Dean Malcolm Morrison.
A Community Resource:
The Performing Arts Complex will make the Community Division more accessible to children and adults in Hartford. It will draw people to the neighborhood and will serve as an important catalyst for economic development. Hartford's Upper Albany Avenue will become a richer cultural corridor, flanked on one end by the Performing Arts Complex and on the other by The Artists Collective and its acclaimed community arts programs.
Funding:
To date, the University has raised most of the funds needed for the project and will raise the balance through fundraising to individuals, corporations, foundations, and government sources.
The Architects:
The nationally recognized firm of Smith Edwards Architects of Hartford is the lead architect for the project. Smith Edwards is collaborating with Howard Performance Architecture, L.L.C. of New Orleans, designers of some of American's top performing arts facilities.
For More Information:
Contact Stephen Auger at 860.768.2408 or auger@hartford.edu.
Mort and Irma Handel
The University of Hartford Performing Arts Complex will provide new performance spaces, rehearsal halls, teaching rooms, and studios for the internationally renowned, 85-year-old Hartt School, alleviating significant space shortages in the school's existing building and providing state-of-the-art facilities for Hartt students and the community alike.
Dramatic Growth of an Outstanding School:
When the Fuller Music Center opened its doors in 1962, The Hartt School enrolled 250 college students and 1,000 Community Division students. Today, these figures have risen to 700 and 2,500 respectively, with added faculty and greatly expanded academic offerings. Hartt also hosts a schedule of over 400 concerts, recitals, dance performances, plays, master classes, and musical theatre productions in the aging Fuller Center. The continued growth of the student body has forced the School to rent off-campus space.
The New Facility:
The University launched the first phase of its Performing Arts Complex project on June 18, 2007 during a festive construction kickoff ceremony attended by more than 200 people. President Walter Harrison announced that the main building will be named the Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center.
“Mort and Irma Handel have shared our vision for this project from the beginning. Their $1.5 million commitment – the largest gift from individual donors to the Performing Arts Center – is just the latest chapter in their long history of support for the University of Hartford, The Hartt School, and the Hartford arts community,” Harrison said. Mort Handel, chairman of the board of Marvel Entertainment, has been a trustee of The Hartt School and a regent of the University of Hartford since 1990. Irma Handel is a trustee of the Hartford Art School, Inc.
The Performing Arts Complex project will transform the former Thomas Cadillac distributorship at the corner of Albany Avenue and Westbourne Parkway in Hartford into a vibrant center for performing arts education. The complex will provide much-needed additional space for The Hartt School, while at the same time serving as an economic catalyst and cultural resource for Hartford’s Upper Albany and Blue Hills neighborhoods. The project will preserve the unique exterior character of the three buildings on the site, which were designed in 1929 by pioneering industrial architect Albert Kahn.
Construction on the first phase of the project began in July, and the main building – the 55,000-square-foot Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center – is scheduled to open in the fall of 2008. The building will house The Hartt School’s Theatre and Dance Divisions, as well as some additional community programs. It will include two black box theaters, dance studios, classrooms, faculty offices and space for community functions.
"With the new Performing Arts Center, The Hartt School will finally have a home that matches the exceptional quality of its programs," said Hartt School Dean Malcolm Morrison.
A Community Resource:
The Performing Arts Complex will make the Community Division more accessible to children and adults in Hartford. It will draw people to the neighborhood and will serve as an important catalyst for economic development. Hartford's Upper Albany Avenue will become a richer cultural corridor, flanked on one end by the Performing Arts Complex and on the other by The Artists Collective and its acclaimed community arts programs.
Funding:
To date, the University has raised most of the funds needed for the project and will raise the balance through fundraising to individuals, corporations, foundations, and government sources.
The Architects:
The nationally recognized firm of Smith Edwards Architects of Hartford is the lead architect for the project. Smith Edwards is collaborating with Howard Performance Architecture, L.L.C. of New Orleans, designers of some of American's top performing arts facilities.
For More Information:
Contact Stephen Auger at 860.768.2408 or auger@hartford.edu.