Moving the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and renovating Sullivant Hall will progress the university’s ‘One Ohio State Framework’ initiative created to achieve Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee’s long-term goals of academic and physical environment success.
The Board of Trustees approved April 8 to enter into construction contracts for a swing space for the dance department in a project that will move the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum from the Wexner Center to Sullivant Hall and renovate the library and museum’s new building.
At the board meeting, the dance department swing space construction budget was approved at $300,000, and the Sullivant Hall and Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum total project budget was projected at $24.4 million, funded by state appropriations, development funds, arts and sciences general funds and libraries general funds.
“It makes sense for (the cartoon library and museum) to move over to Sullivant,” said Amanda Gluibizzi, head librarian for the art library, which is located next to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum in the Wexner Center. “They can have a lot more space to display and house their collections.”
Sullivant Hall will be located in the framework’s Arts District and is pegged to be a key building in that area, according to information from the Board of Trustees. After renovations, it will continue to be home to the dance department, which will be split up and placed in new locations while renovations take place.
“We want to begin this summer on the movement for the (dance department) swing space,” said Mary Lynn Readey, associate vice president of facilities operations and development.
The swing space construction, which is planned to begin in June, will separate parts of the dance department, Readey said.
This could mean a longer journey for students who normally go to Sullivant Hall.
The department’s administrative offices will move to Lincoln Tower, while the dance studios will move to Pomerene Hall and the Drake Performance and Event Center, which has a ballroom, Readey said.
“We want those groups to be in there by the fall and then they will remain there until June 2013,” Readey said. “That’s how long that process will be.”
Amanda Stricko, a first-year in dance and finance, said she has dance classes in Sullivant Hall every day. She said she hopes to be able to take classes in the building after its renovations before she graduates.
Key building renovations for the dance department include dance studios and office spaces, Readey said.
“I’m really excited for the new building,” Stricko said. “I’m fine waiting for a few years.”
Some of the other building renovations include improved windows, upgraded lobby entries, roof replacement and meeting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver standards in green building and energy policy, according to FOD’s website.
Throughout the project’s construction process, the Music and Dance Library will move permanently out of Sullivant Hall and into the Science and Engineering Library, Readey said.
After the Sullivant Hall renovations are complete, the building will hold the art education department, dance department and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and other art initiatives, said Larry Allen, communications coordinator for OSU’s libraries.
The board passed the request to enter into construction contracts for the dance department swing space unanimously.
The Sullivant Hall renovations are slated to be complete in August 2013.
Readey said the next step will be presenting the full construction-renovation budget for approval of the trustees, which will happen at a board meeting in June or September.
