YPSILANTI, Mich. – Eastern Michigan University is one step closer to building a new 3D Arts Complex in its School of Art and Design after it received a $1 million gift from the Windgate Foundation.
The donation is additional funding for the project following a $2.2 million investment from the foundation in 2021. Windgate and EMU have an ongoing challenge grant and matching gift agreement, according to a release.
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“The Windgate Foundation and EMU matching grant, along with the initial matching grant, will allow our students and faculty the opportunity to work in one unified 3D Arts Complex,” EMU professor and director of the School of Art and Design Sandra Murchison said in a statement. “The new space will offer sufficient cross-over between disciplines to create the types of mixed media works that we aim to teach our students to craft.”
According to EMU, the new 3D Arts Complex will help advance opportunities for students across various arts disciplines by providing a new space. The new complex will house the furniture design, sculpture, ceramics, 3D design, digital fabrication and metalsmithing programs, which are currently spread out across several buildings on campus.
Through partnerships with local organizations like the Riverside Arts Center, the complex will also welcome Washtenaw County residents of all ages to engage in summer workshops led by the school’s Art Education faculty.
The roughly 24,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to be completed on the northwest corner of campus by the end of 2023. It will cost an estimated $7.5 million to complete the 3D Arts Complex.
If the university raises $200,000 by April 30, 2023, the Windgate Foundation has pledged to matching that amount.
“It has been a genuine thrill to see this dream evolve into reality for the School of Art and Design and the EMU community,” Murchison said in a statement.