New Art and Cinematic Arts Building Set for Fall 2025 Opening

The long-anticipated construction of a new art and cinematic arts building is proceeding this summer and will launch a new era of creativity and collaboration when its doors open this fall.

The new facility, located east of Pennington Hall and south of the Klages Center, will provide approximately 12,000 square feet of space for the studio arts and arts administration, graphic design, illustration, and cinematic arts majors. It will include state-of-the-art ceramics and sculpture studios, gallery space, video editing labs, audio recording studios, a 66-seat theater, a soundstage, an outdoor ceramics garden, and classrooms that incorporate some of the latest industry-related equipment.

The building replaces Brougher Hall and North Street Annex – both of which are scheduled for removal this summer – which combined to house the art and design majors for decades. The new building offers more than twice the sculpture space, 60 percent more ceramics space, and about three times the current cinematic arts space.

As for equipment, among the additions to the cinematic arts program will be the MIA Cinema Robot, which allows for complex and precise camera work. The model, valued at $125,000, was generously donated to the university by Utah-based production company Mystery Box, and gives George Fox the distinction of being one of the few colleges in the country to possess one.

Art and cinematic arts faculty tour the space that will soon become a 66-seat screening room for student films.

For art majors with a passion for ceramics, a new gas kiln will grace the space. And because both ceramics and sculpture making will now be done under the same roof, there will no longer be a need to carry pieces back and forth between buildings.

Beyond the obvious benefits of more room and improved technical amenities, the facility will allow for more collaboration among majors. “We already have engineering majors and others who use our space to explore the more artistic side of their brains,” says Chandler Brutscher, chair of the Department of Art and Design. “This will only deepen that collaboration, both because we have more to offer in terms of work space and equipment, and because of our close proximity to the Engineering Maker Hub, where many of our art students create.”

“Not only will this help draw more students to George Fox, it will create the exchanging of ideas that are so critical to the artistic process.”

The addition also enhances the university’s academic reputation and will attract highly skilled artistically minded students. Currently, the three art-related disciplines boast more than 70 majors and 60 minors, while the cinematic arts major has grown 25 percent in the past four years and has received national recognition at the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) awards, the largest media arts association in higher education.

As Brutscher sees it, the facility will open up “an abundance of possibilities.”

“Not only will this help draw more students to George Fox, it will create these collaborations and the exchanging of ideas that are so critical to the artistic process,” she says. “And there will be space for both artistic and industrial application. This has been a long time coming, and we’re so excited for our students, knowing they will now have this beautiful space to pursue their creativity.”

BFA Degree to Launch in Fall of 2026

Students interested in pursuing a career in the arts will have the opportunity to boost their credentials with the university’s addition of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, set to launch in the fall of 2026.

The BFA will complement current bachelor’s degree offerings in graphic design, illustration, and studio arts and arts administration, and encourage cross-disciplinary work that draws from all three majors. The highly prestigious 77-credit degree will prepare students for leadership roles in art – such as creative directors or gallerists – or for further graduate studies. It will also offer a more well-rounded art education.

“A highlight of our BFA package is how malleable it will be,” says Chandler Brutscher, chair of the Department of Art and Design. “For example, a graphic design BFA who has completed the traditional coursework for the graphic design BA can dedicate the rest of their elective credits to taking printmaking courses to understand letterpress printing, typesetting and lithography. The BFA gives them the opportunity for a more intensive study of art and design.”