Editor’s note: This article has been updated from the print version to accurately refer to the new arts center as the Poly Arts Center, not the Performing Arts Center.
Poly’s brand new Poly Arts Center officially opened on Saturday, January 20, over a year since its groundbreaking on October 3, 2022. The opening of the Poly Arts Center marked the first time that Poly has added a discipline-based classroom and space (other than athletics) since the Science Building was built in 2001.
The Arts Center offers students “10,000 additional square feet of state-of-the-art dance and music classrooms and gallery exhibition space,” according to an email from Michael Robinson, head of the arts department, and Matt Stelluto, head of campus operations, that was sent to the whole school. Robinson said in an interview with The Polygon that the exhibition space is promising for the future of Poly arts: “I think it has transformed what art exhibitions can be like on our campus. Ms. Coppola and I have big plans for that.”
The 12 million dollar building opening was kicked off by Poly’s Afternoon of Student Choreography, a student-led dance show on Sunday, January 21. Classes were held for the first time in the building on Monday, January 22.
The Arts Building also connects the alumni building and the rest of the campus via a hallway from the Student Center into the communications space. The building also reopens the two main entrances into the Legacy Gym, which “unify several key aspects of Poly’s campus,” according to Robinson and Stelluto.
The first of the two new rooms added is the Instrumental Music Room, which nearly doubles the size of the pre-existing band room. “Anyone who has taken music in our old band room knows, they were definitely due for a real upgrade—and talk about a glow-up. This [is] one of the best music spaces anywhere,” said Robinson, who was involved in the building’s plans.
The second room is the new dance studio, which was opened alongside the 25th anniversary of Poly’s dance program. “The old dance studio is not enough for Middle School and Upper School students,” Robinson said. “The two student spaces alone are completely filled during the daytime at this point.”
These new studios will help broaden the music and dance options Poly can offer. “If you’re a piano player [at Poly], there was a limit to where you could go with your work, but now we’ve expanded those options,” added Robinson.
Additionally, the lobby of the building, which is double the size of the pre-existing theater lobby, will serve as a space to exhibit the artwork of Poly students. This lobby is “professionally designed with state-of-the-art lighting, digital technology,…display cases, comfortable seating and embedded public address system for exhibitions, events, and receptions,” per the Poly website. Laura Coppola, chair of visual arts, is excited to use this space in her teaching. “In our Museum Studies classes, we can think about installation, sequencing, and storytelling more readily,” she said in an email to The Polygon. “I also hope that students just spend time there, in the presence of art.”
Along with the new rooms, new equipment is being brought to expand Poly arts further and the school hopes to utilize the space to collaborate with local Brooklyn artists. Robinson also mentioned that events that are normally held in the library, and therefore cause it to close early, can hopefully be moved to the new Poly Arts Center. “This will help provide another space where community gathering can take place,” he said. This shift would eliminate overcrowded areas within the main building.
Robinson said the purpose of the building is to provide new classroom spaces and the lobby area, but also to demonstrate Poly’s lasting commitment to the arts. “This is a commitment and a manifestation of how important arts programming is on this campus for generations,” he said. “Students who are here today, who might eventually send their own children to Poly in years to come—these spaces will still be incredible all those many years later.”
However, the much-awaited unveiling of the building has left students with mixed reactions.
Zeke Wise ‘24, who has been involved in acting, dance, and choir throughout his four years at Poly, was excited for the building’s opening. Wise said that he is grateful for the building as it represents Poly’s investment in the arts, but he wishes they just had a little more. “[The band room] is pretty nice, it has good flooring and it has good sound proofing on the walls. What they have built is built well. We were just expecting more:…we were expecting a lounge space or some more spaces for rehearsals.”
When it opened, many students, especially those interested in the arts like Wise, could not be more excited to check it out. “They were saying that [the building] would be revolutionary for the arts — that this is gonna provide us with so many new rehearsal spaces,” Wise said.
However, the building left a bit to be desired for many. “We are all a little bit disappointed with the amount of time they spent building it, the amount of money they needed, to just build this building with a dance studio and two classrooms,” said Wise, who was speaking for a handful of dancers in the room who were present for the interview.
Others such as Tristan Kelley ‘24, who is a member of Blue Notes and choir, were disappointed that an extra room was not built for Poly’s choirs, as there is still no ideal space for singers. “I thought there would be more on the second floor. It’s just a wall. There’s nothing there,” he said.
Another student, Noah Saivetz ‘24, who is a member of the band ensemble, has experienced mixed reactions to the new building. “My experience of the first few classes has not lived up to the hype, due to the extreme heat in the building,” he said. Still, he remains excited for the possibilities of the new space. “The physical band room is really nice and is quite the step up from the previous room. The Arts Building as a whole is a really exciting opportunity for everyone at Poly to continue to get involved in the arts.”
Others, though, have found the new space to be very exciting. Laila Baluk ‘24, who has been dancing at Poly since sixth grade, is excited for the remainder of the dance concerts at Poly, now that she has the new rehearsal space. She said she is also excited to see what these changes mean to the arts program going forward and how it will continue to grow.
According to Robinson, the building was supposed to have a third floor including music offices and private studio spaces, which was abandoned six years ago during the building process. Robinson acknowledged that Poly is still lacking these facilities and hopes to build them somehow. Additionally, he said that, due to the idea for the building originating over ten years ago, some of the newer needs of Poly arts today—like photography and film—were unable to be addressed. “There are things that I’m disappointed about that were supposed to be part of this project,” he added. Coppola also said that if she could do a “part two” of the Poly Arts Center she would add studio spaces.
However, Robinson, who has been at Poly since the 1990s, added that it is easy for students to be blind to the changes the arts program has made. “I think sometimes we forget how much change there has been,” Robinson said. Since he first came to Poly, he has watched a major shift take place in Poly arts: things like a photography program, a design program, the Head of Arts position, the school’s many connections to museums, and the Excellence in the Arts Program, did not always exist. “So now, the idea that the first stop on an admission tour is music and dance and a gallery space, I think will say something very clear about Poly,” said Robinson.
