Walking past the unassuming Booker House on University Avenue, it's easy to discount the small brick building's impact on the Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds just down the street. The University's cultural hub has undergone radical transformations as part of Virginia 2020, a long-term plan which includes arts emphasis at the University. Behind these buildings lies a quieter transformation at the University, in the office of Elizabeth Hutton Turner, the vice provost for the arts.
Turner became the first person to hold the position when she began her tenure in 2008. Indeed, the creation of her office represented the growing importance of art at the University by creating a space where "the arts are the No. 1 priority," Turner explained. "We're committed to the idea that the arts should be for everyone, and should be represented everywhere at the University."
The most evident changes are the new buildings: Ruffin Hall, which houses studio art, and, most recently, the new Hunter Smith Band Building. The presence of these buildings
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
