- The College’s performing arts departments – music, theatre, dance and film – share a state-of-the-art teaching, practice, and performance facility for the first time
- Performance venues include the 283-seat Angell Blackfriars Theatre and a 272-seat concert hall
- Facility is the latest capital project to be completed in a sweeping transformation of the Smith Hill campus that has impacted every aspect of student life
- Center named to honor Rev. Philip A. Smith, O.P., who is completing his eleventh and final academic year as College President
Providence, RI -- The Smith Center for the Arts -- the latest capital project completed in a sweeping transformation of the Providence College campus -- was dedicated on Friday, October 29, 2004. Ceremonies were conducted on the Terrace, an outdoor stage located at the main entrance to the building. The 60,000 square-foot center is located on the College's East campus and is adjacent to Eaton Street.
The arts center is named in honor of Rev. Philip A. Smith, O.P., who will complete his eleventh and final year as president of Providence College in June 2005. Situated next to Suites Hall, the new 348-bed, suite-style residence facility that was dedicated in September, the facility is part of a new Quad that has become a central focus of the East Campus.
Other campus infrastructure improvements initiated during Father Smith's term include the construction of St. Dominic Chapel, refurbishment of the Raymond Hall dining facility and the Phillips Memorial Library, the opening of McPhail's student entertainment center; creation of the Alumni Hall Food Court; improvements to the locker rooms, athletic offices, and other facilities in Alumni Hall; and major advances in classroom instructional technology.
Among a number of new academic, extracurricular, and community initiatives launched during Father Smith's tenure are several directly related to the performing arts: the introduction of a major in music education and a minor in dance; invitations to the College's premier choral groups to sing throughout Europe; student participation in national theatre competitions; and sponsoring a popular summer vocal institute and hosting choral and band festivals for high school students. Today, more than 600 Providence College undergraduates are enrolled in music, theatre, dance, and film courses. In April, the College's Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name the arts center as a tribute to Father Smith.
Designed by the Boston architectural firm Dennis Keefe Associates, the Smith Center brings the academic, administrative, and performance facilities associated with the Department of Music and the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Film together into a single building for the first time.
The 2½-story building will serve as the premiere teaching and performance facility for the growing number of Providence College undergraduates enrolled in academic courses in the performing arts disciplines, or participating in a wide range of extracurricular activities involving music, theatre, and dance.
The primary performance venues are the 283-seat Angell Blackfriars Theatre and a 272-seat concert hall. Among the most significant teaching spaces are a "black box" theatre, dance studio, 20-keyboard piano lab, film screening classroom, music library, and choral and instrumental practice rooms. In addition, each academic discipline in the performing arts has extensive office space for faculty and staff, conference rooms and storage areas.
Funding for the $18 million arts center has come from a combination of major gifts, donor pledges, and federal assistance. Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed and Rhode Island Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy secured funding from the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Health and Human Services (HHS), respectively. Other lead gifts were made by the David and Lynn Angell Foundation, the Maximilian E. and Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, and alumni benefactors Robert F. and Mary Anne Reilly.
The College's performing arts students took center stage at the dedication with presentations by the 46-member Providence College Concert Band, a choral performance by the 25-member I Cantori, and a dramatic performance from Shakespeare's Henry V. The master of ceremonies, Rev. Thomas D. McGonigle, O.P., associate professor of history and special lecturer in theology, delivered keynote remarks, celebrating the Smith Center for the Arts as "an important symbol of the interconnectedness of the visual arts, of music, of dance, of theatre and of film and their significant role in the educational experience at Providence College as a liberal arts college."
Perry Oretzky, the president of the David and Lynn Angell Foundation, a major benefactor of the arts center, spoke on behalf of the California-based foundation.
A Barrington, RI native and 1969 graduate of Providence College, David Angell was a longtime NBC producer and writer who played a leading role in creating Emmy Award-winning television programs including Frasier, Wings, and Cheers. He and his wife, Lynn, were passengers on American Airlines Flight 11 which was crashed by terrorists into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Members of Rhode Island's Congressional delegation spoke at the dedication ceremonies, as well as Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline. The Very Rev. D. Dominic Izzo, O.P., prior provincial of the Province of St. Joseph and chair of the Providence College Corporation, brought the greetings of the College trustees.
The Most Rev. Robert E. Mulvee, D.D., J.C.D., bishop of the Diocese of Providence, delivered the invocation; the benediction was offered by the Most Rev. Kenneth A. Angell, D.D., bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, and brother of David Angell.
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