Goals and Priorities

Atop the list of goals for the University’s Campaign for the Arts are renovations and a new addition for the Art Museum; completion of the Drama Building addition; and funding for faculty, fellowships, and scholarships.

Renovating the Art Museum at the University of Virginia

In keeping with Thomas Jefferson’s vision of art as an object for study as well as a general tool for learning, the University will renovate and add to the art museum in the Bayly Building.

The Bayly Building Addition will be a five-level, 20,000 GSF addition on the west side of the current building. The project will support the University Museum’s teaching and exhibit missions by providing expanded exhibit and teaching galleries; improved art storage, art handling, and art conservation facilities; additional offices; and other support spaces. To enhance the museum’s setting and visibility, the scope of work will include extensive landscape improvements in front of the Bayly Building and along Bayly Drive. Upgrades to the existing building infrastructure systems will insure enhanced and more reliable climate control for both the existing building and the addition.

The Drama Building Addition

The Drama Building addition will address that department’s need for more performance, studio, and instructional space. The facility will also help relieve the severe shortage of office space for faculty and graduate students. Classrooms will be soundproofed, and scenery and costume shops will be equipped with new technology in computer-aided design. A 300-seat thrust-stage theater, a 100-seat studio theater and classroom, and a media studio for sound and film work will complement the department’s Culbreth and Helms theatres. With these new facilities, the Department of Drama will be able to expand its undergraduate and graduate offerings in such areas as dance, film studies, and stage directing.

Funding for Faculty, Fellowships, and Scholarships

Programs in the fine and performing arts have grown considerably in recent years, yet student demand continues to exceed what the College can offer. Gifts in support of new programs help us expand our curriculum and offer undergraduate and graduate students additional opportunities for research and performance. Academic enrichment funds, named from $100,000, can be used to support new courses, artists in residence, private lessons, internships with professional companies, study or performance abroad, and much more.

The disciplines of studio art, drama, dance, and music, in particular, also need increased funding for faculty and graduate students to carry on their work. An endowed graduate fellowship in art, music or drama, named at $600,000, will allow the College to recruit the most promising young scholars to the University by helping to support tuition, insurance, research, travel, and living expenses. Recruiting and retaining talented, creative faculty is another high priority. Endowed professorships, named from $3 million, enable the University to more effectively develop a faculty rich in talent and expertise.