The University of Arizona

 

New Poetry Center Home Under Construction

By University Communications
August 4, 2006

In the summer of 2007, nearly 47 years after its founding in 1960, The University of Arizona Poetry Center will finally move into its permanent home. The 17,000 square foot, $6.8 million premier facility, named for Helen S. Schaefer, has been created to house the Poetry Center's internationally renowned collection of contemporary poetry and extensive literary programs. This will be one of the only public access buildings on any University campus that is solely dedicated to celebrating and advancing poetry and literature.

The Helen S. Schaefer Building, designed by noted Tucson architect Les Wallach (Line & Space LLC), will include a climate-controlled rare book room, archives to accommodate future growth, event and meeting spaces, and a residence for visiting artists and scholars. Wallach is known for designing innovative, ecologically sound buildings, including the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Boyce Thompson Arboretum and many private homes. Construction of the Helen S. Schaefer Building began in May 2006 and is slated for completion in May 2007.

Over the years the Poetry Center's original 500-volume collection of contemporary poetry has burgeoned to over 60,000 items, including books, periodicals, audio and video recordings, broadsides, and photographs. Over half of the collection has been held in off-site storage due to limited space. In the new building the entire collection will be accessible to the public for the first time since the late 1970s.

The new building will provide space for Poetry Center programs and outreach activities such as the Visiting Poets and Writers Reading Series which, since 1962, has featured over 1000 writers. Other offerings include literary education programs in pre-schools, elementary and high schools; community creative writing workshops and classes; residencies for visiting writers; special exhibitions; and academic support for both undergraduate and graduate programs, including the University's nationally ranked graduate Creative Writing program. The Helen S. Schaefer Building will also provide a permanent meeting space for the Humanities Seminars Program, now in its twenty-second year of offering high quality, non-credit courses to adults in southern Arizona.

In 1960 writer and philanthropist Ruth Stephan founded the Poetry Center by donating two small cottages and 500 books to the University of Arizona. At the dedication then-University of Arizona President Richard Harvill, whose legacy includes the creation of internationally renowned science centers such as the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Optical Sciences Center (now the Optical Sciences College), noted that he did "not know of a time when there has been a greater need" for emphasis on literature and humanities. Over the past 45 years, the Poetry Center has grown into an internationally renowned literary arts center and comprehensive library collection of mid 20th through 21st century poetry. The University's support of the Helen S. Schaefer Building expresses the degree to which it continues to support the arts and humanities.

Also in 1960, Helen S. Schaefer, a recent doctoral graduate from the University of Illinois, moved to Tucson and became a lifelong supporter of the Poetry Center. Her husband, John P. Schaefer, then a chemistry professor, later a dean and now president emeritus, was instrumental in creating the University's Center for Creative Photography. Both Helen and John Schaefer are influential leaders in the Arizona arts community.

The new Poetry Center building, located just north of Speedway at Helen Street and Vine Avenue, is funded through a combination of private and public support, with $1.9 million coming from University funds and the balance from private gifts. $4.2 million in private contributions has already been raised; the remaining $700,000 must be secured by summer 2007.

The Poetry Center, a special emphasis within the College of Humanities, is currently located at 1600 E. 1st Street. The Poetry Center website (www.poetrycenter.arizona.edu) includes links to architectural drawings and a web cam that shows construction in real time. A formal dedication and inaugural festivities are planned to take place in fall 2007.For more information contact Poetry Center Executive Director Gail Browne at 520-626-5880 or by e-mail at gbrowne@u.arizona.edu

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