Rochester Institute of Technology President David Munson, who took office in July, made some waves when he said in his first major speech a week ago that he wanted to explore building a performing arts theater at RIT.

"I believe any campus of our size should have a major performing arts facility," said Munson.

For those who know Munson, such a priority comes as no surprise. But the timing was interesting given the current debate over whether to build a larger performing arts center in downtown Rochester.

In his previous post, as dean of engineering at the University of Michigan, Munson was an ardent advocate for the arts at a major university that has a half dozen theaters.

And a performing arts facility could be a welcome addition to the arts community and mark another step in RIT's evolution as a major university.

But his proposal comes at a time the Rochester community is trying to decide what performing arts venues are needed and their availability.

The debate was sparked by Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren wanting a plot of vacant city land — Parcel 5 — in the heart of downtown to be used for a $130 million development anchored by a new 3,000-seat center for the Rochester Broadway Theatre League.

That proposal has been met by voices of concern from some in the arts community about whether such a venue is needed and how it might affect smaller theaters. So the suggestion that the community might have yet another performing arts center in its future struck some as overkill.

But Mario Garcia Durham, president of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, based in Washington, D.C., said that it's not unusual for colleges to have their own theaters.

Nazareth College is currently building a new theater — a 550-seat addition to its 1,000-seat Arts Center — and the University of Rochester last year received seed money for a new theater on its River Campus.

How an RIT theater factors into this debate depends on what's proposed.

"You just have to be savvy. What are you building and who are you building it for," said Garcia Durham.

Seeking common ground

Munson has made clear that he wants whatever RIT might build to fit in with the venues that are already in place in the Rochester area.

"We can build programs on campus that complement what exists elsewhere in Rochester," he said in his speech.

And he said afterward, "We don't want to build something to duplicate what the region already has."

The Munson proposal is very much in its infancy. As he put it in response to a request for further comment, "I am in the process of meeting with RIT administrators and faculty in the performing arts to begin charting a path."

Munson has noted that he has begun to talk to local leaders in the Rochester community about a theater.

Warren was one of those briefed by Munson, said Jessica Alaimo, spokeswoman for the mayor.

"We are supportive of his increased focus on theater and the performing arts for his students and think these efforts further cement Rochester as a city of the arts," said Alaimo.

And she said: "The RIT theater will be used mostly for student-run extracurricular activities and should not compete in any way with RBTL's proposal or other organizations, as President Munson mentioned in his remarks."

Arnie Rothschild, chairman of the RBTL, has yet to discuss with Munson what the new college president might propose.

But he doesn't see any conflict so long as the theater is not of a similar size with what is proposed downtown.

"It would be competition if he was building larger than a 2,600-seat venue," Rothschild said. "I doubt anybody is contemplating that."

Rothschild noted that "there is a difference between these things built for educational purposes and their use and things done for commercial purposes and their use."

But not all theaters on college campuses draw strictly from campus communities.

Nazareth College's Arts Center, which seats about 1,000 in the Callahan Theater, is celebrating its 50th season this school year.

Although the college doesn't compile statistics on who attends its concerts, Rita Minnelli, executive director of the Arts Center said, "There are national and international touring acts that we bring in."

The 17 shows scheduled for this season also include Garth Fagan Dance.

With growing interest in music — the second most popular major at Nazareth — as well as an increase in theater and dance majors, the college is building a $15.5 million addition. The Jane and Laurence Glazer Music Performance Center is slated to open next spring.

"We just have too much going on to fit in," said Dianne Oliver, Nazareth's dean of arts and sciences.

Munson's proposal puts a spotlight on how colleges fit into a community that has a rich tradition of promoting the arts.

The University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, with its worldwide reputation, has made Rochester a magnet for top talent.

Although the school has multiple venues for students to perform, its premier performing space is Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, which is what this historic hall has been called since 2009, upon completion of a major renovation.

George Eastman had the Eastman Theatre built. It opened in 1922, originally with 3,352 seats and — with its redesign — now has about 2,400 seats.

Last year, UR received a $5 million gift to support performing arts programming and to provide seed funding for a new theater on UR's River Campus.

A new theater is expected to support the mission of UR's Institute for Performing Arts, which was launched in 2015.

Gloria Culver, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, said at the time the gift was announced last December that the theater "will be for the University of Rochester community."

Advocate at Ann Arbor

At the University of Michigan, Munson became an engineering dean who forged close ties with the deans of three arts-related schools at the university and helped establish the ArtsEngine initiative on campus to promote arts in education.

All these schools are located at the university's North Campus, in Ann Arbor.

Munson was also a founder of a national group, the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru), which RIT recently joined.

"He understands that there is an artist in every one of us. Everyone has the capacity to be creative," said Laurie Baefsky, who is executive director of both ArtsEngine and a2ru.

ArtsEngine, she noted, would take global issues, such as the environment and sustainability and — in collaborative efforts involving faculty and students — address these issues by using storytelling, dance and poetry to put them in human terms.

"The only way to change behavior is to change attitudes. And that's where the arts come in," Baefsky said.

A2ru promotes these principles at a national level.

Baefsky is not surprised that Munson wants an RIT theater, since Munson has a background performing in community theater.

The University of Michigan has six facilities for performing arts, ranging in size from Hill Auditorium, which seats 3,500, to the Arthur Miller Theatre, which seats about 250.

As it is, RIT is home of the Robert F. Panara Theatre, which seats 449 people at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, one of the colleges at RIT on the Henrietta campus.

Since it opened in 1974, the theater has produced performances for both deaf and hearing audiences.

The Ingle Memorial Auditorium, which has 505 seats, and Allen Chapel, which has a capacity of about 150, are also venues for performing.

Munson, in his recent RIT address, noted that "one of my passions is the performing arts," and that while RIT is "very strong in the making arts" — a reference to existing programs in the curriculum — the university is "not as strong in the performing arts."

That is likely to change.

JGOODMAN@Gannett.com

Performing on campus

Some of the other places for training and performing at local colleges include:

►The Gearan Center for Performing Arts, which is a 65,000-square-foot facility on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, has numerous venues and spaces that range from 50 to 250 seats. Large-scale performances continue to be held at the Smith Opera House in downtown Geneva.

►Wadsworth Auditorium, which seats 943, is the largest venue at State University College at Geneseo, with groups such as the Geneseo Symphony Orchestra playing there.

►The Andrews B. Hale Auditorium, which seats 1,000, and the Shewan Recital Hall, which can hold about 200, at Roberts Wesleyan College in Chili.

►The Tower Fine Arts Mainstage, which seats 399, and the Hartwell Dance Theatre, which seats 268, are the largest venues at The College at Brockport.