TORONTO, March 30, 2023 /CNW/ – To help address the scarcity of performance-arts space in Scarborough, Centennial College opened its Performing Arts Centre on the Golden Mile to provide students with high-quality performance and rehearsal space.
It’s the first time Centennial students will make use of studios in the heart of Scarborough and all together under one roof, where they can pursue their artistic interests and talents collaboratively with their peers enrolled in the dance, music and theatre programs. Previously, the college’s School of Communications, Media, Arts and Design had been renting temporary studio space all over Toronto for their training needs.
“For our learner community, this new centre constitutes a place to gather, to dialogue, to create and ultimately to perform for self and others,” says Dr. Craig Stephenson, President and CEO, Centennial College. “Moreover, the soundproofed studios and collaborative lounge spaces, punctuated by plenty of natural light, will help facilitate ideation and creativity – key ingredients in the performing arts.”
“My favourite part of the new space are the sounds,” says second-year Theatre Arts student Maria Baryshnikova of the newly unified space. “In first year, we were only in studios with other theatre students. Now, I hear people dancing, talking, playing instruments. It’s wonderful to hear all those sounds filled with passion for the arts and creation.”
Centennial’s fully accessible Performing Arts Centre is an 18,000-square-foot facility with amenities tailored to the unique needs of arts students, including four studio spaces, a dance/theatre/classroom flex space, a high-tech music lab, nine ensemble and individual music rehearsal rooms, and a “black box” theatre performance space. The college plans to make studios available to local community groups.
“Our own learning community will certainly be all the stronger for it, but so too will be the communities we serve. This new state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Scarborough creates a space catered to performing arts in an area that lacks such spaces,” notes Dr. Stephenson.
More than 250 students have been taking classes in the newly leased space since early January. Students can make use of amenities such as a fitness centre and library just a 10-minute walk away at Centennial’s Ashtonbee Campus.
SOURCE Centennial College
Leave a Reply