Olivia GarrettCorpus Christi Caller Times
Twenty five years in the making, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi broke ground on a new $81 million, 85,000-square-foot arts and media facility Wednesday morning.
A crowd gathered on the lawn in front of Bay Hall on campus Wednesday, beside the location of the new building near the Seabreeze parking lot and the Performing Arts Center and Center for the Arts.
In 2026, students and faculty can look forward to a 325-seat proscenium theater, a 200-seat recital hall, a black box theater and a dance studio, as well as rehearsal space and theater labs for costume construction and makeup. The building will also be home to a display about civil rights advocate Dr. Hector P. Garcia.
"The current building is something that was built in the late '70s and we have outgrown it," School of Arts, Media, & Communications director Diana Sipes said. "It was built for many different departments to all be housed together."
Ryan Perez-Castaneda is a current freshman studying theater arts and dance. He's the first in his family to attend a university and hopes to one day be a theater teacher.
"This new art building promises to be the highlight of my career," he enthusiastically told attendees at the groundbreaking. "I can already see the excitement of performing on the large-scale proscenium stage and the more intimate black box theater."
The university's Performing Arts Center stage is not designed for theater. Originally, the university had planned for a "phase two" of the Performing Arts Center to add the appropriate academic space, but that project never materialized.
The current project will address those needs.
When theater and music programs move into the new building, the university plans to repurpose parts of the Center for the Arts and improve spaces for fine arts programs.
"It can be renovated to better work for our art programs, for sculpture, print-making, painting, ceramics and so on," Sipes said. "Getting out of their way will allow them to grow and have a better operating facility as well."
The new space will allow for music and theater programs to further expand, potentially doubling music major enrollment.
When university President Kelly Miller first came to campus in 1994, the same year the institution became Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, her office was housed in the Center for Arts directly across from the band hall.
Miller recalls how the building was not soundproofed, as well as how over the years the building had ventilation issues and even a mosquito infestation. Yet, Miller said, she has never been happier working in any space in her entire career.
"I witnessed firsthand the magic of the arts," Miller said.
Since then, faculty and staff have been working to get a new space. Miller herself has frequently given tours of the Center for the Arts, "an excellent space for programs that don't include trumpets or stage combat" she said, to advocate for funding.
Both the music and theater programs at the university have doubled in size in recent years. The theater program has a 100% job placement rate, churning out theater educators. But due to the current state of facilities, accreditation was in jeopardy, Miller said.
"The educational space here pales in comparison to almost every other higher ed institute in the state, and most of the high schools that our students come from," Miller said.
Program growth has happened in spite of facilities due to the dedication and talent of faculty, Miller said.
In 2021, with the support of the Texas A&M University System and local state lawmakers, particularly state Sen. Chuy Hinojosa, the university received $45 million from the state for the new arts and media building. The Texas A&M University System also pitched in about $26 million.
"For me, I love the arts, I love music," Hinojosa said. "I think it builds culture, the imagination, the best of our students. It always should be very much a part of higher education."
But inflation impacted the project, Miller said. Costs doubled between when the project was designed and when funding was secured, she said.
Donors have pledged to help meet those increased costs, but the project still needs more funding. Miller said there are opportunities for donors to secure naming rights for parts of the project, from theaters to chairs.
Current funds will provide for the shell of spaces in the building. The proscenium theater has a room and a stage, but there isn't yet funding for lighting, sound or seats, Miller said.
"We are working tirelessly to make sure we have the funds to complete this building by the time of ribbon-cutting," Miller said.
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