The meeting, held at the Parsons building at 25 E. 13th St., regarded student concerns that there will not be enough studio space for Parsons fine arts majors for the Fall 2012 semester. When fine arts majors enter their senior year at Parsons, they are usually ensured their own university-provided work space.
But with 52 juniors currently enrolled in the program and only enough rooms available for 32, some students fear that they will have no such place to call their own come next fall.
“This is almost like when you spend four years planning a trip to France,” said Jarrod Crockett, a junior fine arts major at Parsons. “But then all you can do is just go to the French restaurant around the corner. It’s disappointing.”
Like many of her peers in the junior class, Tara Long applied to Parsons assuming she would be promised her own “mental space.” Long said she believes that the current lack of room is not only a disadvantage for her fellow fine arts juniors, but also one for the school and its reputation as a whole.
“It just came to the point where nothing was being done about this,” she said. “Every idea ever created has needed space to materialize. Our ideas are no different.”
Towers listened to testimonies from students and faculty members alike, before urging those in the fine arts program to draft design proposals to redevelop the existing space however they see fit.
“The practices that should be in this building should be practiced in this building,” Towers said. “This place has a rich community of students, and the public programming you get here, you just can’t get that anywhere else.”
Towers noted that while studio space is crucial for artists, the school must also focus on finding a constructive solution to the matter.
“The key is keeping everything organized,” he continued. “And I think we are creative enough to do that.”
By designing and distributing their future studio space, some juniors in the fine arts program remain determined to find a way around the issue.
“It’s not easy,” Long added. “But when students come here, they need to be open to new ideas. We just need to work with the challenges ahead.”