Amid piles of rubble and scraps of metal is the new home for the LSU School of Art Museum.
Located in downtown Baton Rouge and partnered with the Shaw Center for the Arts, the museum will be the new home for faculty and student art pieces, which is currently housed in the LSU Memorial Tower.
The LSU Museum of Art will occupy the entire fifth floor of the six-story building, including more than 15,000 square feet of exhibition space plus additional room for shops, offices and storage. In addition, the museum also will have evening school classrooms, a digital arts studio, a cafe and a sculpture garden scattered throughout the various floors.
In addition to the museum, the building also will have two black box theaters that will host jazz clubs and dance performances, a theater that will be occupied by traveling shows and community groups and a restaurant at the top floor with a full view of the Baton Rouge skyline.
“We’re going to change the face of downtown Baton Rouge as far as art is concerned,” said Andre Mika, executive director of the Shaw Center.
Mika said the center will rejuvenate the arts in Baton Rouge and attract more patrons to the museums.
By moving its location off-campus, the LSU Museum of Art is hoping to make works of art available to the public, create art programs for children and adults, and provide social space for public occasions.
Laura Lindsay, interim executive director for the LSU Museum of Art, said the creation of this center will give people the desire to see and be a part of the arts.
“It will be a catalyst for new and inviting arts in Baton Rouge,” Lindsay said.
She also said the University’s faculty and students will bring the Shaw Center for the Arts newer and more non-traditional types of art.
“LSU plays a huge part in what we do because of their expertise in arts,” she said.
Art students at the University will be able to take advantage of the center by attending lectures, submitting their works and applying for internships.
Costing more than $20 million dollars to build, the Shaw Center for the Arts was funded through the City of Baton Rouge, the State of Louisiana, Louisiana State University, the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.
The center, which is approximately 65 percent completed, will be finished by November and is scheduled to open March 2005. The first exhibit to be displayed in the museum, titled “African Gold,” will present golden sculptures originating in Africa.