Rice to tear down Rice Media Center, replace with remodeled Sewall Hall
Administrative officials are planning to tear down the Rice Media Center and remodel Sewall Hall to accomodate the lost facilities, according to an email sent by Visual and Dramatic Arts Department Chair John Sparagana.
“We are stressing to the administration that holding off on tearing down the Media Center until the Sewall Hall restoration is complete is important to the stability and continuity of our curriculum and programming,” Sparagana said.
Sparagana also said that he “maintains an aspiration for a student creative arts building” at the site of the Media Center. The timeline for removing the Rice Media Center and the future plans for the location are not currently clear.
The Rice Media Center, located across from Rice University Police Department’s office, currently hosts both the Rice Cinema and the campus’ only darkroom — a specialty space used to develop film photos. The Rice Cinema has been active for over half a century, hosting films by notable artists such as Andy Warhol. In addition to hosting photography classes, the Media Center also hosts exhibitions by students, professors and other artists in its main gallery space.
The Media Center removal will follow the recent replacement of the Rice Gallery in Sewall Hall with a visitor welcome center.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
More from The Rice Thresher
Revealing fragility and standing on the brink: A conversation with Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton
“I had the opportunity to speak with [Deborah D.E.E.P] Mouton about her process of creating a community poem, the augmentation of the artwork’s message by our present moment in history and our collective responsibility to actively create that better future — rather than sit idly by and wait for its announcement.”
Acquired Reading: A look into the lives and libraries of Rice’s faculty
Just as Rice students have found new ways to cope amid the general chaos, our professors have found themselves in the same unprecedented moment in history finding ways to muscle through their daily tasks: conducting research, teaching courses and attending to any children in need of attention.
The Strokes’ ‘The New Abnormal’ brings the best of the past to the present
I can’t drive to see my friends. I watched “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” earlier this week. I am living in the same house as my mother. My entire life feels like a bad rerun of my junior high years right now, so imagine my excitement when I discovered a more positive relic of my past: the return of indie garage rock outfit The Strokes after a seven year hiatus. “The New Abnormal” and its callbacks to early 2000s garage rock sound like they belong on a cassette mixtape while still managing to seem fresh. The album will delight listeners, even if they are coping with the pandemic marginally better than myself.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.