Katzen Arts Center

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Katzen Arts Center
Established	2005
Type	Private
Location	Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Website	http://www.american.edu/cas/katzen/

The Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University. Located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, the Center sits atop Embassy Row in Washington, DC, one of the highest points in the nation's capitol.^[1] This 130,000 square foot space, designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts, provides state-of-the-art instructional, exhibition, and performance space for all the arts disciplines. Its 30,000 square foot art museum exhibits contemporary art from the nation's capital region and the world. The museum gallery is the Washington region’s largest university facility for art exhibition.^[2]

The Center houses many academic departments for the university, including Art History, Graphic Design, Studio Art, Multimedia, Arts Management, Dance, Music, and Theatre. The center also features a 6,000 square foot sculpture garden, a 211,000 square foot parking garage, 33,000 square feet of performing arts space, and 37,000 square feet of studio space, including theatre studios, a music ensemble room, art studios, dance studios, and the Abramson Family Recital Hall.^[3]

The construction of the Center was made possible by Dr. Cyrus and Mrs. Myrtle Katzen, who house much of their modern art collection within the building, which includes pieces by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Willem De Kooning, and Roy Lichtenstein.^[4] The museum also includes art by Jean Dubuffet, Red Grooms, Amedeo Modigliani, Larry Rivers, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.^[5]

[edit] Architecture

Upon completion, the Katzen Arts Center was immediately received as an architectural gem at American University, not only for its design but also for its purpose to encourage student innovation in media, concept, and approach by uniting facilities for creating, displaying, and performing art under one roof.^[6] Designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, the Center is situated on a very long, narrow site abutting Ward Circle. Its form acts as a cultural bridge between the university and the surrounding neighborhood. Other architectural highlights include the piazza with a skylighted rotunda at the center of the facility, which refers and responds to the campus across the street as an informal gathering place for talks, critiques, poetry readings, and impromptu discussions and performances.

[edit] External links

• Katzen Arts Center Home
• Katzen Arts Center Museum
• Photo Tour of the Katzen Arts Center

[edit] Notes