Arts centres
Schools undertaking major redevelopment and with a vision for the arts often plan arts centres – whole blocks or joint facilities that provide all of the facilities needed for dance, drama, and music, and maybe visual arts and other subjects as well (such as media).
Advice on this website about facilities for each discipline, multi-arts facilities, and theatres and auditoriums can be applied to the elements of an arts complex.
Schools should ask themselves why an arts complex is being considered. What are the advantages and implications of clustering the arts?
Is collaboration across the arts is expected? Collaboration in programme planning and performance should be addressed at the outset of planning. Are teachers intending to share at least some of the facilities (such as teacher workrooms, computers, breakout rooms, audiovisual equipment)? If structured collaboration and sharing are not explicit expectations, what is the justification for such a complex?
Storage is a major issue and should be planned at the earliest stages of the project. Arts centres offer great advantages in terms of providing ample storage but access to the various teaching and performance spaces needs to be carefully considered.
Specialist work and preparation spaces (such as an arts workshop and recording studios) can be more easily justified if they are to be available to all of the arts.
The complex should be self-contained. If a theatre is part of the complex, facilities like changing rooms, toilets, and a kitchen will need to be included in any case, but consideration should be given to how these can be put to good use during school hours.
A concept for an arts centre
The diagram below offers a way of conceptualising what could be included in an arts complex and how the various elements could interrelate. It is not intended in any way to be a floor plan.
The concept proposes shared teacher and student resource areas as the core of an arts complex. Areas needed by all disciplines that might be less easy to share form the second ring of the diagram. This does not imply any sort of order of importance.
Some of these facilities could be wholly or partly shared, or used in collaboration (such as storage). In some cases, they would be duplicated for each discipline, especially in schools with large numbers of students for some or all of the arts. (For example, each discipline will need ready access to audiovisual equipment.)
The rehearsal and performance spaces (including a theatre) project outwards as they connect with the rest of the school and the public.
Visual arts facilities are connected but not shown in their entirety. Other curriculum areas (such as technology) could be added to the diagram.
Diagram 2: Concept for planning an arts centre
If you are unable to view this diagram, click here for a text version.