WATERVILLE, Maine — Colby College is celebrating the opening of a new center that aims to transform the way we think about the arts.
The $95 million Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts is designed to give students and community members an immersive experience.
"It's a series of experiments," Annie Kloppenberg told NEWS CENTER Maine. "And it's designed to give students an opportunity to take risks."
Kloppenberg, an associate professor of performance, teaches a choreography class in a sprawling dance studio space in the center. She said she hopes to challenge students in new ways by encouraging creativity freely.
"That sense of exploration and creative risk is something that really threads across disciplines. How do we address a problem in new ways and multiple ways and exploring those solutions might help us arrive at something that we couldn't predict if we were simply trying to get the right answer?"
Many of the students in Kloppenberg's class are majoring in other subjects beyond the arts. First-year Halle Puchalski is studying biology with a minor in dance.
"It's something that I'm truly genuinely interested in and think I'm getting new takeaways every day, not just in dance but also learning about myself," Puchalski said.
That is exactly what the new arts center aims to do. Within the 74-thousand-square-foot facility is a state-of-the-art performance hall, computer labs, studios, a screening room, and even a costume design space.
It's the capstone of a decades-long effort by Colby College to invest in the arts in Waterville. The college said it has invested more than $400 million in the past 10 years, including the opening of the Paul J. Schupf Art Center downtown.
"You see the way arts can really bring people in this community together," Brian Clark, Colby College's vice president of planning and strategy, said. "[It] can really improve the quality of life for those that live here as well and make Waterville a place people want to live, raise a family, and have this be their community."
The Gordon Center will host a number of events throughout the weekend with several performances to celebrate the official opening of the new space.
You can find more information on Colby College's website.