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University of Dayton Plans a Hip Groundbreaking to Befit What's Been Dubbed
ArtStreet unites living, creative, and social space in the student neighborhood.
April 24, 2003
Dayton, Ohio -- The University of Dayton will break ground on ArtStreet, an innovative $9 million student housing and arts education complex in the student neighborhood, on Friday, April 25, with festivities starting at 3 p.m. at 326 Kiefaber St.
This is not your typical groundbreaking.
Students have created puppets, masks and banners that will be used in an hourlong parade that kicks off the celebration. The procession will stop at street corners, where groups of students will be performing. The performers will join the parade, which will wind from Kiefaber Street to Lawnview, Lowes, Evanston, Stonemill and Frericks, before ending at the starting point at approximately 4 p.m. During a half-hour "tribal ceremony," students will play homemade instruments. Musician Michael Bashaw trained students to improvise music.
The groundbreaking is slated for 4:30 p.m. in the empty lot next to 326 Kiefaber St. Daniel J. Curran, president, and Deborah Bickford, associate provost and co-director of the Learning Village, will offer remarks. Other participants include Sarah Grover, president of the Student Government Association, and Susan Kettering, vice president/trustee of the Kettering Family Foundation and a UD trustee. A $5 million gift from the Kettering Fund in 1998 is paying for part of the project's first phase.
A cultural arts festival adjacent the McGinnis Center, 301 Lowes St., will follow the groundbreaking ceremony at 5:15 p.m. The festival will feature hot air balloon rides, art displays and dance and music performances. Students will also paint on plywood that will be hung on the construction fence.
In the event of rain, the parade and festival will be moved into the McGinnis Center.
The first phase of ArtStreet, slated for completion by fall 2005, will include six two-story townhouses and five loft apartments, sitting above performance spaces and artist studios. Proposed plans include a cafe, space for the campus radio station and a recording studio. ArtStreet will initially provide housing for 56 students, both art and non-art majors. More than 200 students have been involved in the planning process.
Unaware of any project like it anywhere in the country, project designers describe ArtStreet as "a little of the French Quarter, the Left Bank and downtown Chicago." The Columbus Dispatch said it "could become the hippest street in town."
For more information, contact Deb Bickford at (937) 229-4898.
Contact: Teri Rizvi
OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469-1679
(937) 229-3241
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