PNCA Awarded $50,000 for Planning Expansion

Release date: 02/07/12

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2012

Contact:
Lisa Radon, Communications Specialist
Pacific Northwest College of Art
lradon@pnca.edu, 971 255 5528

Becca Biggs, Director of Communications
Pacific Northwest College of Art
bbiggs@pnca.edu, 971 255 5511

PNCA Awarded $50,000 for Planning Expansion
The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation supports planning for PNCA’s campus expansion

PORTLAND, OR – February 6, 2012 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) has been awarded a $50,000 grant from The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation for the planning of its campus expansion onto Portland’s North Park Blocks. Specifically, the grant supports planning for the upcoming renovation of the historic, former United States post office at 511 NW Broadway. For PNCA the planning grant represents an investment by the Foundation in values it shares with the College, including transforming lives, nurturing the arts, creating knowledge, and fostering innovation.

PNCA has seen a tremendous growth in its student population, which has doubled since the arrival of President Tom Manley in 2004. The PNCA Campus Master Plan, initiated in August 2005 with the help of renowned architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, recognized that the growing institution could make more efficient use of resources by purchasing rather than leasing facilities and by consolidating the campus around a single node.

In 2008, PNCA was approved by the U.S. Department of Education and General Services Administration (GSA) to acquire the federal building at 511 NW Broadway, which will add 129,000 square feet to the College when renovation is completed in 2014. The expansion solidifies PNCA’s commitment to a vision of an urban campus spanning Portland’s Creative District and anchored in the North Park Blocks.

“We are enormously grateful to the Allen Foundation for helping move forward this transformational project for the College,” says PNCA President Tom Manley. “What better place to carry out PNCA’s mission to prepare graduates for a life of creative practice than here in the creative heart of Portland where students will interact daily with leading entrepreneurs, award-winning artists, and design thinkers working every day to reshape the world.”

The expansion both reflects and supports the growth of graduate education at the College. PNCA has introduced five graduate programs since 2007 with the support of the Ford Institute for Visual Education. These graduate programs draw students from all over the United States to study Visual Studies, Critical Theory and Creative Research, Collaborative Design, and Applied Craft and Design, this last MFA offered in conjunction with Oregon College of Art and Craft.

About Pacific Northwest College of Art
Since its founding in 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) has become a leader in innovative educational programs that connect students to a global perspective in the visual arts and design. In addition to its ten Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, PNCA offers graduate education with an MFA in Visual Studies, a Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies, an MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research, and an MFA in Collaborative Design, as well as an MFA in Applied Craft and Design developed in collaboration with the Oregon College of Art and Craft.

PNCA is actively involved in Portland’s cultural life through exhibitions and a vibrant public program of lectures and internationally recognized visiting artists, designers and creative thinkers. With the support of PNCA+FIVE (Ford Institute for Visual Education), the College has a partnership with the nationally acclaimed Museum of Contemporary Craft. For more information, visit pnca.edu.