This year, the university will nearly complete a campus-wide comeback, with the grand opening of the newly-rebuilt Hancher scheduled for Sept. 9 and the new venue’s first marquee acts opening later this month. A new school of music building and a new visual arts building also opened this year, while a new museum of art is tentatively scheduled to open in 2019.
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The Gazette - Sunday, September 4, 2016
The University of Iowa’s largest classroom has created an eight-year learning curve the likes of which no one could have imagined in June 2008.
That’s when raging floodwaters from the Iowa River engulfed Hancher Auditorium, the UI’s premiere performing arts center, sending staff scrambling to find other venues in which to present world-class artists until a new edifice could be financed, designed and built.
The Gazette - Sunday, September 4, 2016
Everybody has a Hancher story. That’s the lesson that’s emerged for Executive Director Chuck Swanson in the wake of the 2008 flood that ruined the original structure and gave rise to the University of Iowa’s new performing arts center.
Iowa Now - Friday, September 2, 2016
As Hancher Auditorium prepares to celebrate its grand opening, Executive Director Chuck Swanson reflects on the past eight years
Storm Lake Pilot Tribune - Thursday, September 1, 2016
The University of Iowa's new state-of-the-art performance space also houses one of the most remarkable pieces of public art anywhere in Iowa.
Long before Hancher Auditorium opened, members of the Art in State Buildings Program met to discuss the types of pieces that made sense for such a grand building.
Des Moines Register - Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Statewide, a huge cultural development is the unveiling of the University of Iowa’s new Hancher Auditorium, set to officially debut on Sept. 9. All $176 million of it. Culinary arts events are being plotted for the venue’s new Stanley Café, comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short headline the sold out opening night gala and super-hit musical “The Book of Mormon” will play a limited run in October.
Des Moines Register - Monday, August 29, 2016
It has been more than 2,800 days since the crest of the Iowa City Flood of 2008, when the waters destroyed Hancher Auditorium on the University of Iowa's campus. On Friday, Sept. 9, the space will re-open and celebrate with the official dedication and first of two open houses.
KWQC - Monday, August 29, 2016
The University of Iowa’s largest flood recovery project is almost ready for the public. Hancher Auditorium was wrecked in the 2008 floods. Rising water from the Iowa River ruined the electrical and mechanical systems of the performing arts building. Eight inches of water reached the stage to the facility, which was built in 1972. Now, after a $176 million reconstruction project, the public will get its first look inside of the building.
Iowa Now - Monday, August 29, 2016
Bill Dawkins waited eight years for this day. On June 1, he walked into the new Hancher Auditorium on the University of Iowa campus and studied the performing arts venue with the eye of a man now responsible for helping keep the 192,000-square-foot facility spotless.
He noticed the stainless steel elevators, aluminum railings, bare floors, white walls, and glass—lots of glass.
“I was in awe,” Dawkins says. “It was so big and so stainless and so white. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, how will we keep this place clean?’"
Iowa Now - Wednesday, August 24, 2016
New buildings:
Dedications and open houses are scheduled for new additions to the UI campus: Hancher Auditorium on Sept. 9; the Visual Arts Building on Oct. 7; and the Voxman Music Building on Oct. 21. The new UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital will celebrate its dedication on Nov. 11. In addition, the new College of Engineering annex and College of Pharmacy building will break ground this fall, on Aug. 26 and Sept. 29, respectively.