WAC home nearly complete

First-year world arts and cultures student Jennifer Zhao knows
what she is looking forward to winter quarter after the Gloria
Kaufman Hall is completed: She’ll have “an extra 10
minutes of sleep in place of walking.”

For others in the department, the new facility in Wilson Plaza
will build a sense of community, both within the department and
with the larger UCLA campus.

Construction of the building will be completed later this month
and the UCLA department of World Arts and Cultures will move into
the building over the holidays, said Project Manager Kathy
FitzGerald. Originally, completion was scheduled for fall 2004, but
abatement work encountered led to delays.

Located across the Student Activities Center, the renovated
dance building will boast state-of-the-art facilities including two
theaters, seven studios, two lecture rooms, two seminar rooms, and
a video lab. David Rousseve, chair of the WAC department, is
looking forward to moving into the new building, which he said will
be a dramatic improvement over WAC’s current location.

That location is the Kinross building located in Westwood
Village. It has been WAC’s temporary home since 2001, when
the university began the $32 million project to renovate Kaufman
Hall after the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged it. The Kinross
building lacks adequate facilities, Rousseve said, and does not
even have a proper theater.

Zhao says she is very excited about the opening of the Kaufman
building and that the new location will make her life “10
times easier.”

As a student balancing WAC classes and general education
classes, she hikes from the Kinross building to the main campus
every day. Zhao said the Kinross facilities are adequate, but
inconvenient, and she wants to take classes at Kaufman.

The most exciting facility for Zhao is the new video lab where
students will be able to use multiple cameras to capture different
angles during a dance, saying she would “definitely make use
of it.” Zhao added that she believes the new lab will be
extremely useful in choreography, helping the dancer to see the
dance from an audience member’s perspective.

Echoing Zhao’s enthusiasm, Lauren Ziminsky, president of
the WAC Undergraduate Society, says the whole department is
thrilled to move into Kaufman Hall.

In the past, Ziminsky said that students have often joked that
by having class down in the Kinross building, WAC students are
UCLA’s “outcasts.” Ziminsky said that the
department’s optimists insist this physical disconnect is
because they are “elite,” but said the department will
be happy to be back on campus.

“The students are so happy to once again physically join
the UCLA community,” Ziminsky said.

Besides physically rejoining the main campus, Ziminsky says the
new hall will build a sense of community within the department.

“We haven’t had lounge space for years and it will
really give us all a chance to exchange ideas in a more comfortable
setting,” Ziminsky said.

She noted that the new building, with its beautiful architecture
and extensive facilities, is an excellent space for students to
“really explore their innovative talents.”

Rousseve said that while the official opening ceremony will take
place in March, the Chancellor’s office has already held a
gala in honor of the donor, Gloria Kaufman. The philanthropist gave
$18 million in November 1999 to expand the building’s
performance-oriented features like theaters and studios.

About fund-raising, Assistant Dean at the School of Arts and
Architecture Laura Parker said that state funds paid for the basic
code compliances and Kaufman’s generous donation paid for
“all the extras ““ all the high technology, all the
beautiful finishes, the student areas, and all the special features
of the building.”

Emphasizing the importance of private philanthropy, Parker said
she “thinks of private philanthropy as filling the margin
between being great and being the best.”

Without Kaufman’s donation, Parker said a UC campus like
UCLA would never have seen the world-class facilities in the
Kaufman building.

“I think we’re going to have the best facility for
teaching art,” Parker added.