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Bernstein Hall

Opening in 2024, Bernstein Hall will anchor Middle Campus.

It will be a hub of creativity and innovation, and a place of community. In this newest academic building at Colgate University, students will pursue in-depth coursework in film and media studies, digital art, computer science, music, dance, and theater.

Bringing Art and Technology Together

Student project rooms and faculty research spaces will provide flexible areas for experimentation and interdisciplinary discovery. Exhibition and performance spaces will host works by artists to provide immersive and interactive experiences. Two fabrication laboratories will facilitate hands-on learning.

Fab Lab I will be a place of experimentation and exploration, engaging students beyond the screen. It will support the digital art curriculum with a range of equipment, including a digital loom that connects to sensor data to weave fabric based on a range of local ecology data sources.

Fab Lab II will be a collaborative space for computer science and digital art, by providing equipment for circuit etching, sensor building, and more. Both labs will provide spaces for new courses, from robotics to eco-art. They will be open for campus community use beyond classroom hours, and serve as important co-curricular sites for creativity and work.

The White Cube Experimental Exhibition and Performance Space will support a range of artistic practices that include film and video projection, theater, music and dance performances in a space supporting integrated, immersive experiences. Colgate students, faculty, and staff will soon have space and technology for virtual and augmented reality, sensor-based visual and sound installations, interactive gaming, and immersive video and acoustic soundscapes.

The White Cube will allow students, faculty, and visiting artist/innovators to explore these technologies and their role in our lives, examining the opportunities and implications of being immersed in simulations, stories, performances, data, and digital realities.

A Hub for Interdepartmental Collaboration And Experimentation

  • Gallery shot of art featured in the senior exhibition

    Bernstein Hall will further the innovation and artistic investigation of the arts, supporting the kinds of works that are vitally important to understanding the past, present, and future of the creative and performing arts.

  • Artist rendering of a community space with students sitting at tables, and writing ideas on a white board

    Community spaces throughout Bernstein Hall will inspire discussion and provide even more opportunities for interaction between faculty, other students, creators, and their creations.

  • A student stands at whiteboard explaining drawing to classmates

    Curricular overlap and interdisciplinary learning between the arts and computer science technology will boost creative problem-solving skills, student experimentation, and research.

This is Third-Century ambition, made possible by the generosity of Dan Benton ’80, P’10, H’10 and the combined energy, ideas, and generosity of the entire University community.