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Oregon State University plans a dramatic expansion to its arts footprint on the Corvallis campus. (Pictured here: Soloists Logan Stewart, Megan Sand, Nicholas Larson and Kevin Helppie sing during a performance of "To Be Certain of the Dawn," a Holocaust Memorial Oratorio by Stephen Paulus)

(Courtesy of Bret Lorimore/OSU)

Oregon State University plans to build a $60 million complex for theater, arts and music on its Corvallis campus, officials said this week.

The university received a $25 million gift from an anonymous donor to pay for the project, and will try to raise another $5 million in contributions. OSU also will ask for $30 million in state bonds during the next legislative session to make the project a reality.

"This is a watershed investment in our university," OSU President Ed Ray said in a statement. "The arts drive the culture of creativity, innovation and diversity that is essential to a thriving research environment. I believe with all my heart that a relationship with the arts is integral to the human experience."

Ray, the longest-tenured active Oregon public university president, said the building would "enrich the education and life preparation of all our students."

The planned building would replace the LaSells Stewart Center, a 40,000-square-foot performing arts facility which seats 1,200 people, and open in 2022.

The new facility, which is still being designed, would more than double the arts and music footprint on campus. It's expected to include a concert hall and auditorium, separate theater space, classrooms "designed for a media-rich environment," and rehearsal space for music and theater students. Plans also call for a work space for students to experiment with sound, lights, animation and video.

Larry Rodgers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said in an interview that the building is the culmination of years of planning. Rodgers has been dean of the school, which has roughly 4,000 students, since 2008.

"The arts and education complex is the next major step for OSU's development as one of America's great land grant universities," Rodgers said in a statement. "At OSU, we are especially interested in how art intersects with science, humanities and technology. This facility will build on these connections, transforming the way our students and our community learn, perform, innovate and communicate.

Rodgers said that while OSU is known for its engineering and science programs, it still draws many students who gravitate to music and the arts. "This is an essential piece of OSU's next move upward," he said of the project. Having a significant arts presence on campus "was really the missing piece" in Corvallis.

OSU is the state's largest university, with more than 30,000 students enrolled in Corvallis, Bend and the school's online programs.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen