Since 2010, students at SLCC’s South City Campus have been helplessly concentrating on their educational endeavors with the sounds and disruptions of construction. Now just weeks away from completion, the sounds and atmosphere from past three years at South City campus will be traded by that of the Center for New Media.
As new media doesn’t come without the past, present and future, the newest addition to one of the college’s oldest buildings will also be accompanied by a new library. The goal will be to accommodate SLCC’s growing population of students while providing the necessary facets of cross training that the job market of today demands.
“I think that everyone’s really excited to move in,” says Neil Vanderpool, Associate Dean of Communication and Performing Arts. “But more importantly, it’s the anticipation of what students can do in that building.”
While the build also means a move from Redwood Campus to South City for a majority of the Communication and Performing Arts departments, the anticipation comes with the introduction of 22 state-of-the-art edit bays available to students.
“[Essentially] these are rooms set up for sound reproduction, video production, media, visual and performing arts,” says Vanderpool.
The intention and primary focus of the Center for New Media is to put the tools that Communication and Performing Arts students will use all under one roof. This is due to the logic that employers in these fields require a staff with fluency in multiple skillsets.
“It’s a unique situation where all of the arts and sciences—journalism, film, animation, radio, telecommunications, performing arts etc., are all going to be housed at the same place. It’s an interdisciplinary approach where students can pick up all the skills in their area of focus,” says public relations director Joy Tlou.
All of this comes right before the start of the 2013 fall semester, and time is counting down.
Vanderpool notes that while the library is currently being installed into the new location, having moved from a small one room previous residence into the new state of the art building, the college is still waiting for an occupancy permit that will allow all Communication and Performing Arts staff to move in sometime after July 20.
“This is a state of the art facility. There are a couple other studios in the region that are like this, but for a community college to have these kinds of facilities, it’s rare,” says Vanderpool. “Come see the facility, it’s remarkable.”
The Center for New Media is expected to be fully functional by the start of this coming semester and will be an accessible tool for any student looking to grow in the fields of Communication and Performing Arts, but the library will be open to all students. For more information go to www.slcc.edu/cfnm/index.aspx.
Photos by Jimmie Breedlove
