Windgate Center for Fine & Performing Arts
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, Arkansas
Size 114,000 sq/ft
Completion Date 2023
Project Details New Construction Site Work
Services Site Selection, Planning, Programming, Architecture, Interior Design, Furnishings Selection
The Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts on the University of Central Arkansas campus is one of the only higher education buildings to combine both fine and performing arts education programs in one facility. The new center provides classroom, studio, rehearsal and performance spaces all under one roof.
WER Architects, Pfeiffer and H+N Architects teamed together to design a center poised to unite the arts with modern facilities that foster interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaborations, as well as support for the quantitative and qualitative needs of visual arts, music, film and theatre. The arts programs on the UCA campus had been spread across multiple buildings. The Windgate Center design merges the majority of those spaces into one facility creating a home for the arts on campus.
Included in the design is a black box theater, concert hall, percussion suite, scene/woodshop, performer support spaces, and studio art spaces for drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, 3D arts and graphic design. The 450-seat concert hall is the only one-room, open-concept venue in Central Arkansas.
The concert hall is home to the Department of Music’s various ensembles such as band, choir, chamber and jazz, as well as the Conway Symphony Orchestra. The 175-seat Black Box Theatre is a flexible space designed to meet the UCA Theatre program’s ever-evolving needs. This space will also be the premier venue for the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre summer festival which is hosted in Conway each year.
The Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts is centrally located along the new Donaghy Corridor. The center serves as a beacon for the arts and creates new synergy with the University of Central Arkansas and both the fine and performing arts patrons of the Central Arkansas community.
