An architectural rendering of the atrium planned for the new School for the Contemporary Arts facility.

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With a $49.3-million investment from the provincial government, SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts (SCA) is ready to move forward on its plans to anchor the Woodward’s redevelopment project in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

The new, 125,000-square-foot (11,845-square-metre) SCA facility will fill six floors on the southwest corner of West Hastings and Abbott Streets. It will include public space, performance venues, teaching studios, a 400-seat theatre, and a multimedia lounge and lab for new media. It will serve as many as 1,000 students, staff and faculty each day and is also expected to attract as many as 5,000 arts enthusiasts a year to enjoy music, film, theatre, dance and visual arts events.

The campus, which will be built to LEED Silver sustainability standards, will cost $71.5 million. To raise the remaining balance, SFU is launching a $30-million fund-raising campaign.

"This investment in arts education will further support our economy by helping to attract and create the creative class that is powering so many of the world’s most dynamic cities," says SFU President Michael Stevenson.

Details on the project are at:
http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media_releases/media_releases_archive/media_release11130701.html

A virtual fly-through tour of the new building is at:
http://cgi.sfu.ca/~scahome/?q=woodwards_gallery

The BC government's news release is at:
http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2007OTP0174-001450.htm

And video of the Nov. 13 event is on the BC government website at:
http://www.multimedia.gov.bc.ca/EN/402/968