Talking Stick - March/April 2009 - 11

Dayton’s ArtStreet Connects Off-Campus Living to On-Campus Community The concept of a living-learning community takes on new meaning at ArtStreet, a residential art center at the University of Dayton in Ohio. The center, which opened in August 2004, provides housing for 58 students from all majors in six twostory apartments and five loft apartments. Michigan hotel will Be living-learning coMMunity The Riverfront Character Inn in Flint, Michigan, has gone through many changes in its lifetime, but perhaps none as significant as its new future – a residence hall. The 16-story building was originally a Hyatt Regency Hotel when it opened in 1981, and it has since ranged from the site of a religious institute to a fitness center in the works. Michigan’s sixth largest hotel was purchased by the nonprofit Uptown Reinvestment Corporation, funded by a $20 million dollar loan from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the plans this time are to transform it into student housing. The building will eventually be a livinglearning community for 550 students, and the plans include classrooms, a game room, an Internet café, and meeting space. The third through eighth floors will house student suites similar to those in First Street Residence Hall at the University of Michigan in Flint, which will open for 250 students by August 2009 (see the January + February 2009 issue of Talking Stick). The idea for the housing stemmed from research by The Scion Group, a student-housing research and development company in Chicago that was commissioned by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; the research showed a current demand for 474 more beds and a projected need for nearly 970 beds by August 2013. March + april 2009 Residents of ArtStreet enjoy a visual art gallery and studio, music performance and rehearsal space, an outdoor amphitheater, a film-screening room, and various meeting spaces to cultivate their specific artistic interests. Students also run a radio station, recording studio, and café. “The students are very involved and come from many aspects of the university,” says Susan Byrnes, director of ArtStreet. The rooms consist of vaulted ceilings, chalkboard walls, and furniture on wheels. “Everything in ArtStreet is on wheels so we can craft things as we’d like and people can be really exploratory,” says Byrnes. “The students are encouraged to expand the way they think about how they live. People will come into a space like this and begin to appreciate a living space that’s not your standard rectangle.” ArtStreet is at the heart of a larger neighborhood owned by the university, where 90 percent of UD’s juniors and seniors are housed. ArtStreet residents from all academic backgrounds put on programs for the university, such as Art in My House, their annual art showcase. Byrnes sees it as a community center for the entire campus: “We’re intricately partnered with many different departments on campus to promote international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary diversity.” The staff and students who keep ArtStreet running have expanded that idea even further into the city of Dayton. “We try to engage our campus community and our overall community as well,” says Byrnes. “We have lifelong learning classes and programs open to the city. We really serve as a portal to connecting students with the greater art community in Dayton.” Another living-learning community, this one based on the concept of sustainability, was recently created at UD based on the ideas of ArtStreet. Byrnes encourages creating interactive homes like this for any area of study: “We’re about a broad definition of art that people can have access to. You don’t have to be an expert.” To learn more about ArtStreet, visit artstreet.udayton.edu. 11

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/talkingstick_20090102/ https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/talkingstick_20090102/ http://artstreet.udayton.edu

Talking Stick - March/April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - March/April 2009