Pasadena City College Officially Opens Center for the Arts

Pasadena City College officially opened its Center for the Arts.  With hundreds in attendance, Superintendent-President Mark W. Rocha greeted Congresswoman Judy Chu, Mayor Bill Bogaard, Vice-Mayor Jacque Robinson, Assemblymen Chris Holden, the PCC Board of Trustees, the PCC Foundation Board, Director/Producer John Singleton, the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, members of the Art Alliance, the Citizen’s Oversight Committee and members of the Pasadena community.

The Center for the Arts brings together the disciplines of art and music in one facility.  The building is 87,000 square feet with 14 classrooms and 3 performance spaces:  the Westerbeck Recital Hall, the Boone Family Art Gallery, and the Center for the Arts Theatre.  The art spaces include several graphic design classrooms, photography and film studio.  AC Martin designed the facility with Gail Bouvrie, AIA, Sr. Associate, and Director of Design spearheading the project.  “The building is a modern addition to the Pasadena campus, and also includes elements that recall details, colors, and proportions found in some of the historic buildings,” Martin said.

The Pasadena Area Community College District Board of Trustees approved the ballot initiative known as Measure P in November 2001 and the district’s voters overwhelmingly supported the measure that fully funded the construction of the Center for the Arts.  Speaking about the Center for the Arts, Dr. Mark W. Rocha, Superintendent-President of PCC said, “our dedication today of the glorious new Center for the Arts is therefore no mere opening of a school building but yet another act of faith in our great cause.” “Where many community colleges and public schools have cut back on the arts, PCC has maintained its commitment to the arts.  The Center for the Arts will transform the landscape of the PCC campus and ultimately transform the lives of our students,” Rocha said.

The Center for the Arts will host its first artist-in-residence showing in February 2014 with artist and software designer, Casey Reas, as well as its first musical theatre production in the Westerbeck Recital Hall.