Ursinus College Opens New Performing Arts Center.

(From AScribe)

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- Responding to student interest, strengthening its ties to the growing Philadelphia suburban region and confirming a mission to educate the whole student, Ursinus College is opening The Kaleidoscope, its new performing arts center, April 21, by showcasing a selection of theater, dance and music demonstrations throughout the building.

The Ursinus center opens at a time when new or improved space for performing arts has became a priority for campuses, as colleges give the performing arts a greater role in a liberal arts education and campuses balance the role of a performing arts center in hosting events and providing a venue for student learning.

Guided tours of the $25 million Kaleidoscope building at Urinsus will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will continue every hour. Ursinus students will offer workshop performances in ballet, chamber music, comedy improvisation, dance and theater, so visitors can preview the facilities. To help celebrate the opening, world-renowned trumpeter Wynton Marsalis continues his affiliation with Ursinus, giving his second concert at the college. His father, music scholar Ellis Marsalis Jr., will be Ursinus's commencement speaker May 14 and will receive an honorary degree. An invitation-only evening concert by jazz artist Marsalis is planned as an appreciation for the generosity of major donors who contributed to Ursinus' $115 million capital campaign, which includes the performing arts center as its centerpiece.

To herald the opening, the PECO building in Philadelphia will announce the opening in its roof lights at times during April.

Ursinus began planning for its performing arts center almost a decade ago, when student interest in the arts began to increase. Eventually, student performances were sold out to standing room. Participation in the arts, even among majors in non-arts disciplines, grew to an all-time high, and the college added a theater major and a dance major last year.

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