Packing up and moving

School of Communication & Creative Arts prepares for move to Green Hall

The Liberty University School of Communication & Creative Arts (SCCA) will be united under one roof in Green Hall come fall 2016. SCCA, along with the Liberty Studio & Digital Arts (SADA) Department, will be moving into the space currently occupied by the indoor track facility.

According to Dean of SCCA Dr. Norman Mintle, this will create an environment for collaboration between students from all four of the school’s departments.

“This move unites our entire school,” Mintle said. “Then we have the beauty of synergy between all of our students, which we have never had before in one geographic location.”

The new “front door” for the SCCA will be where the Green Hall lobby is now. When the renovation is complete, there will be a new lobby with glass double doors that welcomes students. Located along the entry hallway will be the radio station 90.9 The Light, The Liberty Champion and open spaces to display student artwork and technology.

Mintle explained that he envisions floor-to-ceiling glass windows allowing visitors to see into choreography, ceramic and digital arts studios lining the hallways.

The director of preconstruction, Brad Barber, said demolition on the indoor track has already begun, and construction on phase one of this project began April 1. Phase one will replace all the facilities used by the SADA and digital media and communication arts (DMCA) departments that are now used in DeMoss Hall. Phase one should be complete by mid-August 2016 and ready for the upcoming school year.

“The computer labs, the drawing studios, ceramic studios and all the spaces we have here in DeMoss we will also have over there,” Mintle said. “There will be new versions of them.”

Barber said the indoor track is being moved to East Campus under the monogram. It will be open for the upcoming 2016-2017 track season.

Later phases of the construction plan will focus on moving the Liberty Flames Sports Network (LFSN) to Green Hall, Theatre Arts’ renovations and the construction of a new Black Box theater, and the creation of a new home for 90.9 The Light, Barber explained. These are scheduled to begin later this summer.

“Eventually, LFSN is going to be relocated from River Ridge (Mall) and will be brought over next to us,” Mintle said. “We’re going to have our own television studio next to their professional studio. On the theater side, the Black Box theater will literally be a ‘black box’ in which multiple seating configurations can be adapted based on the particular design of each show.”

Mintle also shared that the Black Box theater will provide students with more opportunities to do original script productions and have more student-led productions. This theater will hold approximately 180 people. It will also be used as a classroom.

“This will expand the overall opportunity for our students,” Mintle said. “What excites me about this is that we can start doing more serious literature that expands our actors’ and directors’ writing
and acting experiences.”

According to Mintle, students in the SCCA can also anticipate a new common area. This will have a lounge type of feel, and students will be able to connect with other students from different areas of studies.

“We are going to be in a very vibrant space,” Mintle said. “Then we have that huge and wonderful collaborative area that students are going to go crazy for.”

Department Chair of DMCA Dr. Bruce Kirk said this is a “massive move” for the department.

“This will allow us all to be more collegial and have discipline-cross pollination where we can work with each other,” Kirk said. “There are a lot of possibilities to work among our own departments and with other departments.”

Kirk said students will need to make allowances for the time within their schedule to travel from DeMoss Hall to Green Hall. The majority of classrooms are being constructed close to the main hallway that leads to the bus stop outside Green Hall.

Frost is a news reporter.