Texas Border Business –
The Grand Premiere of the Performing Arts Complex on April 23 was a prime opportunity to blend performing arts from the Edinburg and Brownsville legacy campuses as they come together to become The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
The free concert, which included faculty and student performers from both campuses, attracted not only arts patrons, but also students and community members to the PAC’s 1,000-seat, state-of-the-art performance hall. It was the long-awaited culmination of a $42.7 million project approved by The University of Texas System Board of Regents in 2011, said Martin Baylor, executive vice president for finance and administration for UTRGV.
Dr. Havidán Rodríguez, UTPA president ad interim and provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at UTRGV, welcomed guests at a reception sponsored by Plains Capital Bank. He said the premiere marked a day to celebrate the talents of the students and faculty of both legacy institutions – UT Pan American and UT Brownsville.
“Educational and economic opportunities are two obvious benefits, but increased opportunities for cultural enrichment through the arts will be an equally important measure of our success,” he said.
The performance opened with a rousing fanfare by 26 trumpeters from UTB and UTPA that brought the audience to its feet. The concert included musical performances ranging from symphony to guitar ensemble, some featuring UTPA and UTB students performing together for the first time. UTPA’s award-winning Mariachi Aztlán and the UTPA Ballet Folklórico wowed the crowd, reflecting two of the Valley’s most treasured cultural traditions.
Faculty offices, classrooms, a piano lab and a dance studio were added to the existing Building B. In Building C, practice rooms were expanded to nearly 40. It now has music analysis and listening labs.
Artwork will be showcased in the complex’s two art galleries and in the performance hall lobby where, currently, the work of McAllen artist and arts patron Kirk Clark is on display.
For Dr. Dahlia Guerra, dean of the UTPA College of Arts and Humanities and interim dean of the UTRGV College of Fine Arts, the PAC represents the importance of the arts in the Valley, a facility that will highlight UTRGV as the “heart and soul of the community.”
The new PAC is an exciting reflection of what’s happening in the Valley now, Guerra said, the coming together of two institutions into a new university for the 21st century.
“This new Performing Arts Complex provides the very best facility for the education and the training of our students in the new College of Fine Arts at UTRGV,” she said. “This is a life-changing moment for our students and our community.” TBB
