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After some delays, Kaufman Hall will soon open and house the WAC department.

First-year world arts and cultures student Jennifer Zhao knows what she is looking forward to winter quarter after the Gloria Kaufman Hall is completed: She’ll have “an extra 10 minutes of sleep in place of walking.”

For others in the department, the new facility in Wilson Plaza will build a sense of community, both within the department and with the larger UCLA campus.

Construction of the building will be completed later this month and the UCLA department of World Arts and Cultures will move into the building over the holidays, said Project Manager Kathy FitzGerald. Originally, completion was scheduled for fall 2004, but abatement work encountered led to delays.

Located across the Student Activities Center, the renovated dance building will boast state-of-the-art facilities including two theaters, seven studios, two lecture rooms, two seminar rooms, and a video lab. David Rousseve, chair of the WAC department, is looking forward to moving into the new building, which he said will be a dramatic improvement over WAC’s current location.

That location is the Kinross building located in Westwood Village. It has been WAC’s temporary home since 2001, when the university began the $32 million project to renovate Kaufman Hall after the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged it. The Kinross building lacks adequate facilities, Rousseve said, and does not even have a proper theater.

Zhao says she is very excited about the opening of the Kaufman building and that the new location will make her life “10 times easier.”

As a student balancing WAC classes and general education classes, she hikes from the Kinross building to the main campus every day. Zhao said the Kinross facilities are adequate, but inconvenient, and she wants to take classes at Kaufman.

The most exciting facility for Zhao is the new video lab where students will be able to use multiple cameras to capture different angles during a dance, saying she would “definitely make use of it.” Zhao added that she believes the new lab will be extremely useful in choreography, helping the dancer to see the dance from an audience member’s perspective.

Echoing Zhao’s enthusiasm, Lauren Ziminsky, president of the WAC Undergraduate Society, says the whole department is thrilled to move into Kaufman Hall.

In the past, Ziminsky said that students have often joked that by having class down in the Kinross building, WAC students are UCLA’s “outcasts.” Ziminsky said that the department’s optimists insist this physical disconnect is because they are “elite,” but said the department will be happy to be back on campus.

“The students are so happy to once again physically join the UCLA community,” Ziminsky said.

Besides physically rejoining the main campus, Ziminsky says the new hall will build a sense of community within the department.

“We haven’t had lounge space for years and it will really give us all a chance to exchange ideas in a more comfortable setting,” Ziminsky said.

She noted that the new building, with its beautiful architecture and extensive facilities, is an excellent space for students to “really explore their innovative talents.”

Rousseve said that while the official opening ceremony will take place in March, the Chancellor’s office has already held a gala in honor of the donor, Gloria Kaufman. The philanthropist gave $18 million in November 1999 to expand the building’s performance-oriented features like theaters and studios.

About fund-raising, Assistant Dean at the School of Arts and Architecture Laura Parker said that state funds paid for the basic code compliances and Kaufman’s generous donation paid for “all the extras – all the high technology, all the beautiful finishes, the student areas, and all the special features of the building.”

Emphasizing the importance of private philanthropy, Parker said she “thinks of private philanthropy as filling the margin between being great and being the best.”

Without Kaufman’s donation, Parker said a UC campus like UCLA would never have seen the world-class facilities in the Kaufman building.

“I think we’re going to have the best facility for teaching art,” Parker added.