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RIT to move gallery space into the Sibley Building

www.rit.edu

RIT’s College of Art and Design says it is moving its gallery space to the Sibley Building  in downtown Rochester.

The gallery is now located on College Avenue and it had been called “Gallery r“

The venue will move this fall to the first floor of the Sibley Building and it will be called RIT City Art Space.

The gallery will continue to serve as exhibition space for College of Art and Design students, faculty, alumni and visiting artists.

But gallery director John Aäsp  says this move will increase visibility for the artworks being displayed.

"Those plans kind of collided with some of RIT’s plans to have a bigger presence in downtown, so we looked at the Sibley space and of course we were very impressed with the development going on there and just in that neighborhood.”

Aäsp says this is something that other universities around the country have been doing, trying to forge closer connections with their communities.

“Dr. (David) Munson, who’s our new president, came from Michigan. I think he’s seen it work, I think he’s seen that example work where universities can reconnect with revitalizing downtowns in urban areas through arts and culture, through creativity.”

Officials also say they will be able to provide a creative platform for other events and programming that will increase outreach and engagement with alumni, K-12 students and the downtown community at large.

Aäsp says that students in RIT's interior design program also are working on the project to help develop ways that the space can be used.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.