VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

With performances that highlight the present — and the promising future — at Virginia Commonwealth University, its School of the Arts celebrated the upcoming CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation with a gathering Thursday at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU that offered a glimpse of the facility as construction begins this spring.

CoStar Group, a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the property markets, has made an $18 million commitment to support development of the planned 213,000-square-foot center. The support adds to CoStar Group’s extensive history of investing in educational opportunities in Richmond and beyond.

“The importance of VCU to both Richmond and CoStar Group is what first led us to invest in the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation, a place to facilitate innovation and collaboration, to learn, to create, to excel,” said Lisa Ruggles, senior vice president of global operations at CoStar, noting that nearly one-third of CoStar Group’s employees in Richmond are VCU graduates. “Richmond would not be Richmond without VCU — an academic hub, cultural force and a driver of innovation. We all benefit from a strong VCU.”

CoStar Group has invested in myriad educational programs throughout the United States because founder and Chief Executive Officer Andy Florance, a member of the VCU Board of Visitors, has always believed in the power of a great education to change lives.

“The [CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation is] in a long line of commitments, and it will not be the last,” Ruggles said.

Several members of the Board of Visitors attended the event and praised the project.

"On behalf of the VCU Board of Visitors, we share our deepest thanks to Vice Rector Andy Florance and to CoStar Group for their extraordinary commitment. CoStar is also one of the largest corporate employers of VCU graduates. Additionally, we offer sincere gratitude to the Commonwealth of Virginia for investing in this project, and to all of our donors for their generous support," said Todd P. Haymore, rector of VCU and chair of the VCU Board of Visitors.

‘Connections that bind us’

Interdisciplinary collaboration and partnerships are how VCU helps solve problems and serve communities, said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., and the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation expands that commitment.

“The intersection of arts and innovation … helps us to prioritize what matters and what’s needed out there,” he said. “And [the CoStar Center], again, will be a representation of that. It will enhance the human experience everywhere. That's why we are known throughout the world, particularly in the arts, and I'm so proud of that.”

In its accommodation of disciplines ranging from opera to quantum computing, the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation reflects the belief in the power of intellectual and social diversity to achieve positive change.

‘Place and space’ spur creativity

Positioned on the southeast corner of West Broad and Belvidere streets, across from the ICA at VCU and near Fortune 500 companies and local startups, the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation will provide a launch pad for digital and creative economy initiatives on the VCU campus and in the city. Features will include flexible classroom spaces, interdisciplinary performance venues and maker spaces for rapidly growing partnerships across arts, business, humanities, sciences, medicine and engineering.

Place and space are a key tenet of art and design, said Carmenita Higginbotham, Ph.D., dean of VCUarts.

“Artists find inspiration in geography and history of a site of and in its use, and the culture from which it emerges,” she said. “Artists also work with and within spaces to probe the boundaries and barriers of creativity, transforming environments into sites of esthetic and intellectual engagement. The CCAI … will reshape traditional arts pedagogy better, connecting intellectual fields and disciplines within an immersive environment where we, as a university, will reimagine what is possible when the arts and innovation coalesce.”

At Thursday’s celebration, students, faculty and alumni presented a series of performances in the spirit of collaboration inspired by the center.

‘Bring Me All Your Dreams’

The VCU Commonwealth Singers performed “Bring Me All Your Dreams” by Christopher H. Harris with words by Langston Hughes. Christopher Hansen, Ph.D., director of choral activities and professor of choral music education with VCUarts’ Department of Music, conducted while a video featuring students from each department within VCUarts played in the background. (The video was produced by McNair Evans, photographer and multimedia producer, and Ryan Sprowl, artistic director.)

The blending of movement and sound

A multimedia performance piece at the celebration showcased a newly produced screen dance work augmented by a live sound mix and live performers. The work is a manifestation of assistant professor of dance and choreography Sinclair Ogaga Emoghene’s pioneering exploration into unconventional dance performance methodologies, incorporating a multivernacular dance practice. It blends forms of African contemporary dance with the study of movement.

Kinetic imaging chairman and professor Stephen Vitiello created a “sonic response” to the performance. It consisted of a piano piece (originally performed by Vitiello at the Robert Rauschenberg Residency in 2016 and reconstructed for this performance) as well as a waterphone, a bowed instrument often used for film sound effects, as well as sampled drums. With a mix of prerecorded and live elements all spatialized in real time, the piece took advantage of the ICA theater’s multichannel speaker setup.

The propulsive, rhythmically charged sound composition could run parallel to – and weave in and around – Emoghene’s choreographed screen dance and live performance piece.

“This project is an ongoing research with movement, aiming to catalog, articulate and weave together an expansive lexicon of dance,” Emoghene said. The cinematic element of the performance is captured in a projected film — created by Sinclair Dance Co. in collaboration with VCUarts alum Oliver Mukherjee  — creating a visual backdrop that complements the live exploration of its narrative by the dancers — dance student Addison Harksen and Robert Parietti of Sinclair Dance Co.

— in the immediate presence of the audience.

“This creation embodies the core aspirations and mission of the CCAI,” he continued. “It's a testament to our commitment to cross-disciplinary fusion, showcasing the diverse fields within VCUArts. But our ambition stretches further, highlighting the profound impact of technology, the power of collaboration, and the richness of intellectual diversity on the new center's endeavors. This performance is a tangible demonstration of our prowess in merging academic insights with community knowledge, forging connections that transcend traditional boundaries. It's not just about showcasing our capabilities; it's about setting a precedent for what we believe the future of integrated, interdisciplinary exploration should look like.”

Vitiello noted the anticipation for how the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation could enhance such creativity.

“It’s going to be a beautiful building that will elevate the performance possibilities for dance, music and theater but also for collaborative opportunities,” he said. “The department that I chair and teach in, kinetic imaging, is full of faculty and students who are eager to explore, working with other departments as well as presenting immersive works of our own.”

A song of inspiration

The VCU Commonwealth Singers closed Thursday’s event with a performance of “Tshotsholoza,” a traditional South African song about working in the mines, which translates to “go forward” or “make way for the next man.” Justin Alexander, DMA, associate professor of music and director of percussion studies with VCUarts’ Department of Music, accompanied the singers. Hansen conducted.

Reception

The VCUarts Student Jazz Ensemble, featuring Victoria Baird on saxophone, Wesley Castle on guitar, Charles Brown on drums and Sriram Iyer on bass, performed in the Royall Forum at the ICA during the reception following the performances.

Taylor Barnett, DMA, director of jazz studies, with VCUarts Department of Music, said he looked forward to how the CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation could help him create original music for films and animation, plus large-scale theater and dance productions. And that would be just one reflection of how the center can spur creativity.

“The thing I am most looking forward to,” he said, “is having a top-notch, shared facility where students and faculty from across the school can collaborate to tell meaningful stories through art, with less logistical and technological barriers than ever before.”