Two exciting new capital projects are taking place on the Lower/Middle and Upper School campuses at St. Andrew's. A $23 million dollar Performing Arts Center Complex is in progress on the Upper School campus and a new Chapel on the Lower/Middle School Campus and a field renovation and beautification project is currently underway. Both projects are expected to be completed in spring 2012.
ABOUT THE DELL FINE ARTS CENTER
On February 15, more than 800 students, distinguished guests, school families, friends, and faculty broke ground for the new Dell Fine Arts Center. The choir sang, the strings played, and the rock and jazz bands performed—all to commemorate and celebrate this incredible new visual arts, musical arts, and performing arts complex.
“Welcome to one of the most exciting days in the history of St. Andrew’s School,” said Head of School Lucy Nazro. “We are here to break ground for the Dell Fine Arts Center—three new buildings which will transform the educational experience at the Upper School. As Chris McCoy, one of our visual arts teachers said, and I concur wholeheartedly, ‘At a time when budget cuts in the arts and education are in the news every day, there has never been a more important time to build this thoughtful facility, designed to serve youth, their collective creative soul and intellect.’ The overwhelming response from the St. Andrew’s community in support of this project is nothing short of miraculous.”
In December 2010, the Board of Trustees at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School voted to break ground on the construction of a fine arts complex, the Dell Fine Arts Center, at the school’s Upper School campus on Southwest Parkway. Scheduled for completion in the spring of 2012, the Dell Fine Arts Center will enhance programs and student experiences for generations by inspiring creative thinking and self-expression and providing richer classroom experiences.
The Dell Fine Arts Center will include three state-of-the-art, technologically enriched buildings. A 34,000-square-foot performing arts center will have both a fixed 400-seat proscenium theater and a black box theater with seating for 125, along with a technical classroom, theater support rooms, and offices. The center will also include a 6,100-square-foot music arts building with classrooms, faculty offices, and rehearsal spaces for the choir, strings, jazz, and rock band programs. Additionally, a 6,100-square-foot visual arts building will boast a new digital design lab, filmmaking studio, black-and-white darkroom, printmaking studio, drawing and painting studio, sculpture and ceramic studio, student gallery space, and offices. Tying the three structures together will be 14,000 square feet of covered walkways, an outdoor amphitheatre, a sculpture garden, and a commons area.
Since July 1, 2010, the school family has already given approximately 75 percent of the project costs. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has generously led this effort with a $7 million grant and numerous significant gifts from generous school families, including 100 percent of the St. Andrew’s Board of Trustees, have contributed to the project. The total construction costs are $21 million and an additional $2.1 million will be raised for the endowment fund. This is the largest single capital project in the history of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School.
“We are so very grateful to the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation for their incredibly generous lead gift and to the many leadership donors who have pledged their support and resources for this vital and beautiful new facility,” said Catherine Miller, chair of the Board of Trustees.
Truly a day to remember, this groundbreaking marks a new era for St. Andrew's Episcopal School. As each distinguished guest turned the shovel, it was evident on the faces of the students, faculty, alumni, and families that an incredible opportunity awaits this next generation of students who will now have the very best opportunity to learn, grow, create, and benefit from a state-of-the-art fine arts education.
ABOUT THE NEW CHAPEL AND FIELD RENOVATIONS
On the morning of Thursday, March 31st, St. Andrew's broke ground for two new and incredibly exciting projects on the 31st street campus. Under the shade of the large oak trees near the center of campus, hundreds of students, faculty, alumni, families and friends joined together to celebrate a new chapter in the life of St. Andrew’s: the construction of a new Chapel and the beautification and renovation of the playing field on the 31st street campus.
“I never thought I would see the day when we would be able to build a much needed new and larger chapel for the Lower and Middle Schools,” said Head of School Lucy Nazro. “We are so grateful to Charmaine and Gordon McGill and The Cain Foundation who lovingly saw in their hearts and minds the difference this chapel would make in the lives of St Andrew’s students for years and years to come. I can think of no way to honor Frank’s memory and to honor Parker’s life than to bring meaning to the lives of others because of them.”
In October, St. Andrew’s announced it had received a generous grant from The Cain Foundation which will fully fund the construction of the Chapel and provide for renovations and the beautification of the playing field. This gift was given in honor of Parker McGill and in memory of Frank McGill, both of whom attended St. Andrew’s through the eighth grade. The new Chapel, which will be centrally located on campus, will physically unite the Lower and Middle Schools. The renovation and beautification of Crusader Field includes plans for field resurfacing, terracing to allow for additional seating, and other improvements that will enhnce the field and its surrounding area.
“This chapel will be an open but intimate space welcoming and warm, a place which is open to the field and surrounding academic buildings. It will bring the sacred into both the academic and athletic life of the school,” said Mrs. Nazro. “God has blessed this school in so many ways through its history. That is why we are really here today: to thank God for His blessings and to say publicly that all we have comes from Him. “All things come from thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”God is indeed working through Charmaine and Gordon and Frank and Parker in bringing these gifts today. I will be forever grateful to you all.”
The Chapel and field renovations are expected to be completed in early 2012.