Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
Name	Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
City	College Park, Maryland
Country	United States
Owner	University of Maryland, College Park
Opened	2001
Architect	Rafael Viñoly

Contents

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is a multi-venue arts facility on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park that houses theaters, concert halls, rehearsal spaces, and galleries serving academic, regional, and national audiences. Opened in 2001, the center functions as a hub for collaborations among departments such as the School of Music (University of Maryland), the Department of Theatre (University of Maryland), and the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, while hosting touring companies and artists from institutions including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Smithsonian Institution. The complex supports programming that links university curricula to professional practice involving partners like the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

History

The project emerged from fundraising initiatives led by donors including Clarice Smith and facilities planning involving the University System of Maryland and the Board of Regents of the University System of Maryland. Design commissions followed precedents set by venues such as the Sydney Opera House, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Royal Concertgebouw, with construction funded through capital campaigns tied to benefactors related to the Terp community and philanthropic networks connected to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and corporate supporters like PNC Financial Services and Lockheed Martin. Site planning engaged municipal stakeholders from the City of College Park and transportation planners aligned with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Prince George's County development offices. Since its 2001 opening, leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park administration and arts directors formerly affiliated with the Baltimore Center Stage, Arena Stage, and Shakespeare Theatre Company have shaped its mission, while notable inaugurations included figures associated with the Maryland General Assembly and cultural policy leaders from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Designed by Rafael Viñoly, the center's architecture displays influences from projects by I. M. Pei, Renzo Piano, and Richard Meier, and incorporates materials and acoustical treatment developed in consultation with firms experienced on the Vienna Musikverein and Berlin Philharmonie projects. Facilities include a main concert hall—used by ensembles comparable to the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music—a proscenium theater used by companies akin to the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Public Theater (New York City), a black box studio similar to spaces at Tisch School of the Arts and the Yale Repertory Theatre, and gallery spaces for exhibitions like those hosted by the National Gallery of Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Backstage and rehearsal resources mirror standards from institutions such as the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall, and technical systems reference suppliers that have worked with the Bolshoi Theatre, the Opéra National de Paris, and La Scala. The site planning relates to campus landmarks including McKeldin Library, Cole Field House, and the Prince George's Stadium area.

Resident units include the university's School of Music (University of Maryland), the Department of Theatre (University of Maryland), and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Resident Artists program, which collaborates with external ensembles analogous to the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Americana music collectives and touring groups from the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, and Canadian Opera Company. Partnerships extend to community organizations like the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Prince George's Philharmonic, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, and educational partners such as the Peabody Institute and the Johns Hopkins University arts initiatives. Guest companies have included ensembles affiliated with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Programming spans classical music seasons, contemporary opera, theater productions, dance festivals, film series, and visual arts exhibitions, drawing curatorial models from the Kennedy Center Honors, the Spoleto Festival USA, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The center presents recurring festivals and themed series inspired by presentations at the Sundance Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Festival, while hosting lecture-demonstrations featuring scholars from the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the American Musicological Society. Special events have included composer residencies modeled after those at the Guggenheim Museum and creative labs patterned on initiatives from the MacArthur Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Educational programs connect undergraduate and graduate curricula with community outreach modeled on programs at the Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Initiatives include K–12 workshops similar to those of the New Victory Theater, summer institutes paralleling the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival and School, and teacher-training collaborations akin to projects run by the National Writing Project and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Partnerships with local districts involve the Prince George's County Public Schools, the Montgomery County Public Schools, and after-school programs that echo efforts by Young Audiences Arts for Learning and National Guild for Community Arts Education.

The venue has presented artists and companies comparable to appearances by Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Audra McDonald, Philip Glass, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lang Lang, Martha Graham Dance Company, and productions featuring directors from the Royal Shakespeare Company, choreographers associated with Paul Taylor Dance Company, and ensembles affiliated with the Bang on a Can collective. Touring opera and theater productions have included works linked historically to the Metropolitan Opera, Royal National Theatre, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and concerts have hosted guest artists from institutions such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.