Collegiate Times

Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — This article has been modified from its original version, in that it now includes the full version of the Q+A. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.

The face of the Virginia Tech campus is always changing and adapting to suit the needs of the university and its students.

While there is much construction going on currently, more is on its way. 

With the Arts Initiative, Virginia Tech plans to build up the Arts in Blacksburg and better incorporate the Arts into the everyday life of the average student and resident. 

Students may have already noticed one of the first steps of this movement with the new Black Box Theatre (Theatre 101), located adjacent to Squires on the Henderson Lawn.

The grand opening for the theatre will occur October 30th of this year.

The next step of the Arts Initiative will be the continuation of planning on Virginia Tech's Center for the Arts, part of what is now Shultz Hall, and a 1,300 seat performance hall which is to be added on. 

On July 14th, Ruth Waalkes was named the executive director for the center, which is scheduled to open in June of 2013.  Waalkes will be begin her position in late September of this year. She will aid in the center's design and layout. 

She is currently working at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center as the Director of Artistic Initiatives. Waalkes has held the position since 2002. 

Once the center is opened, "Waalkes will have overall responsibility for the programming and operation" according to a Tech press release naming her as the new Executive Director. 

The actual design of the center falls under the international architecture firm Snohetta, from Oslo, Norway, who has worked on such prestigious projects such as the Library of Alexandria in Egypt and the September 11th Memorial Pavilion in New York City. 

The article on the Arts Initiative in the Virginia Tech Magazine's Spring 2009 edition states that STV Architects, Holder Construction Co, and Arup, "a global engineering and acoustics firm," will also be joining the project. 

The converted area that is now Shultz Hall will include a Visual Arts Gallery, a Creative Technologies Lab, and support space for the performance hall.  The university hopes to begin construction in 2010.

The CT caught up with Waalkes while she was in town for several meetings earlier this month.

CT:  When the interview was set up, you said that you would be in town for meetings.  Who all did you meet with and how did it go?

Ruth Waalkes (RW):  Yesterday, we had a series, all day long, of meetings. This included the primary architect who is working on the Center for the Arts' design, and consultants who are working on the interior of the center. So the theatre consultants are the folks who actually look at the design of the large performance hall itself, what will go in there, the types of staging, equipment, and access, and all of those considerations that we'll need. Then there are acousticians, who are looking very specifically at the hall in terms of sound:  how sound moves in there, what the experience will be for audience members in any area of the hall.  

CT:  What role will you play while the center is being planned and built? Will you be working with Snohetta  on construction and planning?

RW: I will very much be an active part of the conversations about the building's design and use; working with Snohetta, working with theatre projects, the acousticians, as we start to more clearly define the types of programming we envision and what the implications are then for the needs of the hall.  

CT:  When were you originally approached for the position as Executive Director of the Center for the Arts?  What led you to accept the position?

RW:  I actually heard that Virginia Tech was going to be building a center and there was an interesting project bubbling up here.  Sometime later in the fall there was a search firm that was looking for candidates and they contacted me. I think the first conversation I had was with the search people at the end of January.  Then I made two visits down to Blacksburg, at the end of March and then again at the end of April. 

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