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FontShe'll carry her bachelor's degree in music from WestConn to the celebrated New England Conservatory of Music in Boston to study voice as a lyric coloratura.
Her success underscores the legitimacy of the plans under way to build a facility to house the School of Visual and Performing Arts that WestConn created three years ago by bringing together its art, music and theater arts programs.
The $96 million arts instructional center will give art, music and theater students professional stages and intensive academic support to foster their talents at the highest level.
"You can't beat the professors here or the level of education but, of course, it's disappointing not to be able to experience it (the new facility) for myself," Caraluzzi said. "It's going to be such an addition to the whole experience. It will really benefit the students."
The center will be built in what is now a parking lot between the O'Neill Center and the classroom building on the west side campus. A parking garage will replace the parking that will be lost.
"In July, we will start the schematics, and it will take 18 months to complete the construction drawings,'' said Robert Swain, president of the Hartford firm Amenta/Emma Architects, the project's prime architects.
"At the conclusion of this phase, the state will put the project out to bid. If everything falls into place, it could be completed in 2013," Swain said.
He's excited about the assignment.
"It's a challenge to have a large-scale project, and it's a fantastic opportunity to make a statement on the west side campus," Swain said.
While all four Connecticut state universities have some art programs, the Connecticut State University System has designated WestConn as the system's arts institution.
That's partly because of Danbury's proximity to New York and the interest the faculty has historically shown to the arts, said Carol Hawkes, dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts.
"The students get a liberal, classic and professional education," Hawkes said. "It's an advantage here that there's a great interest in Connecticut in the arts, and there are many artists living in Connecticut ..."
Hawkes said the new center will bring the arts together appropriately.
"The arts have so much in common, like creativity," Hawkes said. "Arts are integrative. They need to work with each other. They work together to reinforce that creativity."
At this point, WestConn has about 155 visual arts majors, 180 music majors and 79 theater arts majors (the newest of the three departments). There are 21 students in the Master of Fine Arts program and 30 in the Master of Music program.
Swain is working with an architectural partner, Holzman Moss Architects of New York City, which he brought to the project because it has a national reputation for designing arts buildings, he said.
Along with a concert hall, proscenium theater, and recital hall, the building will have dressing rooms, instrument rooms, rehearsal and practice rooms, and costume and set studios.
The art department will have painting studios, photography rooms, ceramic and sculpture studios, and computer graphic labs, and offices for the faculty.
Nestor Bottino, design manager for Holzman Moss, said the project is interesting for a number of reasons.
"Every university has a different grouping of subjects, and you can see how the different components can share and benefit from being next to each other and yet what they need to be distinct," Bottino said.
In addition, because the west side campus has a master plan that has not been completed, the visual arts center and the landscaping planned for it will help define the campus.
He said outdoor space for music and theater rehearsals will be part of the plan, and the design will take advantage of the long vistas available from the top of the hill.
The project will be demanding for the architects, because many of WestConn professors are experienced performers who are knowledgeable about top-flight facilities in nearby New York City, as are many city residents, he said.
"There is a sophistication of the faculty in terms of their professional experience, and I think there is a sophistication of the community patrons, but we have very good consultants who have designed (arts facilities) at the highest levels,'' Bottino said.
In addition, the facilities in the building must both provide a professional setting for the students to experience but not intimidate them as they learn their trades.
"They have to understand what it's like to work in a professional setting," Bottino said. "They need to be
exposed to it. Their connecting to the professional world is extremely important."
Contact Eileen FitzGerald at eileenf@newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3333.
Western Connecticut State University's Visual and Performing Arts Instructional Center n For School of Visual and Performing Arts. n Graduate and undergraduate degrees art, music theater, including studio arts, sculpture, graphics, photography, vocal and, instrumental music and theater arts. n 122,000-square-foot, three-story building on the westside campus. n Includes concert hall, proscenium theater, studio theater and recital hall, as well as classrooms, gallery and other display space. n Total budget: about $97 million. n Amenta/Emma Architects, Hartford, with Holzman Moss Architects, New York City.
