Skip to main content

Duke in Pictures: Arts Annex Opening

New space creates community for visual art, dance, and theater

arts annex

Duke unveiled its new arts annex Tuesday, a multi-use facility in the old university laundry warehouse that will now give dancers and other student artists a big, open space to rehearse.  Pictured above, students Julianne Chiraz, Kensley Elliott and Casey Edwards don costumes and pose at the photo booth station during the opening event.

The 10,000-square-foot annex, at the end of Gattis Street and up a winding path from a bus stop off Campus Drive, is intended to provide student artists with a place to practice and display artwork, largely in the evenings and on weekends. The space features an area for painters and other visual artists and two large rehearsal spaces for dance troupes and theater groups, the two floors built specifically to mirror the dimensions of the stages at Page and Reynolds auditoriums, two venues that commonly host student performances.

This is particularly good news to Cedric Stapleton and the other two dozen members of Sabrosura, a Latin dance group.

"Other spaces have pillars in the middle; they weren't built for practice," said Stapleton, a Duke senior. "Having these big spaces are valuable."

Duke officials hope the new facility will create a sense of community among student artists.

"By providing a physical location for visual art, dance, and theater, we can cultivate a network of cooperation and collaboration that will make arts more prominent on campus," said Scott Lindroth, vice provost for the arts.

The annex opening included performances by more than a dozen student groups, art materials from The Scrap Exchange and food trucks from the area serving tacos, fresh veggies and other items.

Below: Duke's Momentum Dance Company performs outside the Arts Annex.

Photos by Jared Lazarus/Duke University Photography

arts annex