KRQE News 13 – UNM set to break ground on new fine arts building

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – If you’re driving in Albuquerque along Route 66 in the next two years, you’ll see a new building on the University of New Mexico’s campus under construction. It’s the first new facility for the university’s fine arts college in nearly 60 years. “My faculty deserve it, my students deserve it, and the state of New Mexico deserves to have a facility like this,” said Dean Harris Smith, UNM College of Fine Arts.

The Center for Collaborative Arts and Technology or “C-CAT” for short, is a new addition coming to the UNM campus. “It’s a new facility that’s going to help support our over 14-hundred college of fine arts students,” said Smith.

With 60 thousand square feet, the building will include a 600-seat performance hall. “So, we can perform operas in that space as well as help with theatrical performances and dance,” said Smith.

It will be located off Central and Princeton, across from Johnson Field, and is set to break ground early next week. “Once it was clear that we were outgrowing our facilities because these facilities were created, a lot of our buildings in the sixties, well we’ve doubled the number of majors within the discipline,” said Smith.

Various departments inspired different features to come. “We have a 50-seat multi-purpose classroom that will serve all the different disciplines. We will also have a sound stage that will serve our film and digital arts students. And that’s one of our fastest-growing departments on campus,” said Smith.

$45 million of the $82.1 million budget for the facility came from the 2022 GO bond. The facility will include unique designs by Diller Scofidio and Renfro, a world-renowned architecture firm. “The concert hall will have a glass section. When you’re sitting there you can see the Sandia mountains during the performances,” said Smith.

The building is set to be completed in the Spring of 2026. UNM is also fundraising for the building’s cost. If you’d like to donate click here.