Our Crowdfunding Groups
Things are abuzz here on the Forty Acres with classes back in session and something amazing is now available in the Fine Arts Library....
The Fine Arts Library Recording Studio is up and running as a part of The Foundry!
Thank you again for supporting this project! A special donor wall will be installed in recognition of the many people who helped make this project a reality.
Please join us:
The Foundry Grand Opening in the Fine Arts Library
Wednesday, September 7
12:30 - 2:30 pm
Richard T. and Jan J. Roberts Reading Room
Doty Fine Arts Building
RSVP by August 31 to events@lib.utexas.edu
Check out our photos on Facebook!
Thank you again for your support of the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio. This week our partners in the College of Fine Arts received exciting news about the creation of the Foundry.
Grant Supports Creation of Makerspace in Fine Arts Library
Oct. 29, 2015
AUSTIN, Texas — The Hearst Foundations have awarded a $200,000 grant to the Center for Arts and Entertainment Technologies in the College of Fine Arts and the Fine Arts Library at The University of Texas at Austin to help create a common makerspace — called the Foundry — where students can create 3-D objects, videos, apps and other creative projects in the digital arts.
“The Foundry will support new collaborations across disciplines and give students the hands-on technological skills and knowledge they need to succeed as artists and entrepreneurs," said Bruce Pennycook, director of the center.
Located in the Fine Arts Library, the Foundry will bring together students and faculty members from many disciplines to generate new ideas, research, art and inventions — both curricular and noncurricular. A section of the library will be renovated to create specialized labs and studios to support creative projects that involve recording, editing, design and fabrication.
“Because of the generosity of the Hearst Foundations, the Fine Arts Library will be able to provide access to the Foundry, a full-service creative makerspace,” said Laura Schwartz, the Fine Arts Library’s head librarian. “The impact it will have on student learning and research is beyond our imagination, and we are so excited about offering a space that encourages creativity and opens up endless possibilities.”
Once built, the Foundry will offer 3-D modeling and printing resources; an audio/video production and editing studio; a recording studio with sound isolation for singers and narrators to practice and record; an interactive game and mobile applications studio; a studio for microelectronics and animatronics; a high-tech music recording and production studio; and a multifaceted fiber art studio to experiment with technology-enhanced costumes and clothing.
Fundraising efforts for the Foundry will continue to enhance the equipment available to students, add support staff members and expand programming.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the Hearst Foundations for their support of continuing efforts to transform our library spaces in ways that nurture creativity and enhance student success,” said Lorraine Haricombe, vice provost and director of University of Texas Libraries. “The Foundry as a solitary place where students can utilize modern tools and techniques to both gather knowledge and apply it moves a step closer to reality through this generous gift.”
UT Libraries are continually working to reconfigure physical spaces to meet the needs of 21st-century students through projects such as the Foundry. The recent opening of a Learning Commons and the approaching launch of a Scholars Commons pilot (early 2016) at the Perry-Castañeda Library offer examples of innovation in how libraries are converting space to serve modern users.
The Foundry will be part of the college’s new Center for Arts and Entertainment Technologies, a program that blends art, technology and entrepreneurial skills inside and outside the classroom. The center expects to serve 2,500 students by 2017, including students enrolled in the college’s new Bachelor of Science degree in arts and entertainment technologies, expected to launch in fall 2016.
"The Foundry will give all UT students and faculty a much broader palette of tools to pursue original creative research across disciplines. It will also allow our new programs in arts and entertainment technologies and gaming to grow and realize goals for curricular transformation,” said College of Fine Arts Dean Doug Dempster. “Our facilities need increasingly to be designed for different disciplines to bump up against each other. We are eager to see how students collaborate to compose, record, program and fabricate using the new technology the Foundry provides. Fine Arts is thrilled to be collaborating with the University Libraries on stoking the Foundry!”
For more information, contact: Alicia Dietrich, College of Fine Arts, 512-475-7033; Travis Willmann, UT Libraries, 512-495-4644. Note to editors and news producers:
University Communications at The University of Texas at Austin is providing the following news release in the form of text within this message. The article is posted in the “Press Releases” section of the UT News website at http://news.utexas.edu/.
Wow, summer’s gone and the fall semester has arrived on the Forty Acres!
Just wanted to reach out and share an update on the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio.
Things are moving forward. We have been meeting throughout the summer to select equipment and design the space. The Libraries Facilities Manager is working with staff from UT’s Project Management and Construction Services to create a design that meets the requisite standards for building codes and aesthetics.
Initially, we thought the studio would be located in the Fine Arts Library on the fourth floor of the Doty Fine Arts Building, but after consulting with Ken Dickensheets, a top acoustical consultant and media designer, it was decided that the studio should be on third floor, the entrance level of the Fine Arts Library, in a room currently used for group study.
Equipment has been ordered but things are taking a little longer than we had anticipated. An official open date has not yet been set, but we do plan on having some type of kick-off party to welcome everyone in the space. More details to come! We will end up with a studio that is larger and more sophisticated than initially planned, thanks in large measure to the generosity of all our donors.
Check out a preliminary floor plan and see where the studio will be located on our most recent Tex Libris post, Update: Fine Arts Library Recording Studio.
Thank you again for your support!
You are one of the first 24 donors who have helped us raise $2,205 since our official campaign kick-off last Monday!
Thank you! We received a very generous matching gift of $500 from Tom + Regina Nichols, so thanks to them a number of donations had twice the impact!
If you or your company are interested in contributing a matching gift during the campaign, don’t worry, there is still time! Please contact Gregory Perrin for more information.
This weekend we will host our first photo booth contest to promote this project during the Excessive Noise Concert, Saturday, March 28 at 6pm in the Fine Arts Library. Stop by, enter the contest, chat with us about the FAL Recording Studio, and enjoy this free concert featuring music that bridges the East and West. Our friends over at KMFA provided a great contest prize, so it is sure to be a great time!
Thank you again for your generous contribution. Every dollar counts as we work toward our goal of raising $10,000 for the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio.
We will be in touch soon with more project updates!
Thanks again for helping us make it to 24% of our goal in just two weeks!
Here are some ways that you can increase the impact of the gift you have already made:
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram, and if you post about our project use #CreateUT, so we can thank you for helping us spread the word!
Our photo booth is currently in the Fine Arts Library, but it will make its way across campus to the Perry-Castañeda Library this week, so stop by, strike your best diva pose, and enter our contest to help spread the word!
Check out our awesome winner from last week.
Keep an eye out, we have a very exciting announcement to make next week!
Thank you for helping us build the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio.
We made major progress this week during the University of Texas 40 Hours for the Forty Acres! In 40 hours we raised over $2,500 through 39 donations.
Special thanks to William "Bill" Bacon for matching $1,000 of our gifts during this time!
To celebrate, we are sharing this new video outlining the space that will be used for the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio.
We are officially halfway there! We have 21 days to raise the remaining $4,780, so please help us spread the word through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, E-mail, or even word of mouth.
We’ve made it this far and it isn’t over yet!
PS Check out some of the awesome photos that were taken in our photo booth this week here!
We are proud to announce that we exceeded our original goal of $10,000 this week!
Thanks to Dr. David Hunter and Jennifer Barnett who provided a very generous $1,000 match on Monday which resulted in a surge of generosity.
In total, we raised $4,665 between Monday and Friday.
Since we still have two weeks to go in our campaign we are announcing a stretch-goal of $15,000. That’s just $4,445 in the next 14 days. The extra funds will enable us to build an even better Fine Arts Library Recording Studio with better sound-proofing, software, and hopefully some new carpet and furniture. Help us spread the word through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, E-mail, or even word of mouth. If you or your company are interested in contributing a matching gift during the campaign, don’t worry, there is still time! Please contact Gregory Perrin for more information.
Your generosity has truly exceeded our expectations. To celebrate, we are planning an end-of-campaign show at Tom’s Tabooley on the last day of our campaign, May 1. Make sure and save the date! More details to come!
Special thanks to our Rock Star donors this week: Henry Jungman, Jan Roberts, and John Wombwell; and to Austin’s Pizza for promoting this project in their week emails.
With 2 days left in our campaign we are incredibly proud and humbled to announce that we have not only met and exceeded our original fundraising goal of $10,000, but also met and exceeded our stretch-goal of $15,000. The last $1,000 matching gift will be reflected online in the next day.
You made this happen! Thank you so much for your generous contributions and promotion of our project throughout our campaign.
To celebrate the end of our campaign and the successes we have seen in just 45 days Austin’s Pizza and UT Libraries is hosting a show at Tom’s Tabooley this Friday at 7:30 pm featuring Maxwell’s Daemons. This show is free and open to the public. We will also have our photo booth available. This is a family friendly event so please come and bring your friends and family too! Check out our event on Facebook, RSVP, and share with friends.
If you have any questions regarding our show on Friday, please feel free to contact Natalie Moore.
We will continue to send updates to project donors as we make progress on the construction of the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio, so please keep an eye out!
Special thanks to all of our donors, especially those who generously contributed matching gifts:
Thank you also to our campus and community partners who supported us during this campaign:
Finally, I would like to acknowledge our team for really making this effort come together: Laura Schwartz, David Hunter, Beth Kerr, Mason Jones, Travis Willmann, Gregory Perrin, PG Moreno, Rosa Muñoz, Sara Robillard, Doug Barnett, Carolyn Cunningham, and all who helped us broadcast our message throughout the campaign!
Thank you for supporting our project! We will be sending you email updates about the project.
Receive a thank you via social media - Facebook: PCL and the UT Libraries, Twitter: @UTLibraries
Receive an invitation to the opening of the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio.
Receive an invitation to a student band performance in the Fine Arts Library.
Receive a hand-written thank you note from a student and your name listed on our project description.
Receive a special recording of "The Eyes of Texas," and your name will be listed in the Fine Arts Library Recording Studio.
