UMBC Opens New Performing Arts and Humanities Building

cut a ribbon on the afternoon of Sept. 19 to officially open the new Performing Arts and Humanities Building—the first of a two-phase construction project that will ultimately cost about $165 million, according to university officials.

Gov. Martin O'Malley, along with elected officials including Dels. Steve DeBoy and James Malone, Sen. Ed. Kasemeyer and House of Delegates Speaker Pro Tem Adrienne A. Jones—an Arbutus native who graduated from UMBC in 1976—joined UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski to cut a ceremonial ribbon inside a tent set up in front of the new building for the occasion.

The first phase of the complex is home to UMBC's theatre and English departments, as well as the Dresher Center for the Humanities, Hrabowski said.

UMBC also held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the second phase of the building, which will house the university's departments of dance, music, philosophy and ancient studies, and will include a 350-seat concert hall and a 120-seat dance studio.

Work has already begun on the second phase, which is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2014.