Arts Bridge
Located on the fourth floor of the Bromery Center is a makerspace for the departments of art, music and dance, and theater. The multidisciplinary space includes a design studio, theater rehearsal studio, costume shop, music education classroom, music seminar room, recording studio, and more.
This project, funded by the UMass Building Authority, has created a welcoming and transformative space that enhances the visibility of the arts and encourages interaction among students and faculty in the creative disciplines.
Laura Bailey Costume Shop
Theater majors at UMass Amherst are students of design and dramaturgical interpretation as much as they are of performance. These creators have a new place to call home in the Laura Bailey Costume Shop, where they can design and create beautiful new costumes for theater productions. Named for Laura Bailey '03, the shop has quickly become an integral space for the Department of Theater.
Julie C. Hayes and Claude Bersano Recording Studio
In recognition of former dean Julie Hayes for her leadership of the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, Bill ’86 and Madeleine ’89 Noland established the Julie C. Hayes and Claude Bersano Recording Studio Fund to provide support for the audio recording studio within the Fine Arts Center Bridge. The fund will support the purchase and maintenance of recording equipment and other needs directly related to the recording studio. The Nolands cite Dean Hayes’s outreach and enthusiasm for HFA and all its facets that resonated with students, faculty, and alumni as the inspiration for the fund. In recognition of this gift, the audio recording studio in the Fine Arts Center Bridge will be named the Julie C. Hayes and Claude Bersano Recording Studio in honor of Dean Hayes and her late husband, Claude Bersano, who was a sound engineer and had a passion for classical organ music.
A Brief History of the Bromery Fine Arts Center
The Bromery Fine Arts Center is perhaps the most important work of modern architecture on the UMass Amherst campus. It was conceived as a gateway to the campus at the south end of the pond, but its arcade also acts as a link between student housing on the east side of campus and the academic buildings on the west. Designed in 1968 by Kevin Roche of Roche, Dinkloo and Associates (responsible for some of the most inventive buildings of the ’60s and ’70s) the building was an innovation for an American campus.
It remains one of the most visible structures at UMass Amherst. On its lower floors, the building contains a concert hall, the Rand Theater, the Bezanson Recital Hall, a small black box theater, and the University Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2020 the building was named for the late Randolph W. “Bill” Bromery, in honor of the former chancellor who was instrumental in creating today’s vibrant and diverse university and who recruited jazz legends such as Max Roach, Archie Shepp, and Fred Tillis (who became the first director of the Fine Arts Center). Bromery was the first African American to lead the campus.