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Kennedy Arts Center and Performing Arts (1988–2022)

Overview

Hamilton College’s modern arts infrastructure was built in two major phases, both driven by named philanthropy and capital campaigns. The first was the 1988 dedication of the Hans H. Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts, which gave Hamilton a world-class concert hall — Wellin Hall — for the first time. The second, far larger phase unfolded between 2011 and 2014 as part of the Bicentennial Initiatives campaign: the construction of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art (opened October 2012) and the Kevin and Karen Kennedy Center for Theatre and the Studio Arts (opened fall 2014). Together, the Wellin Museum and the Kennedy Center — located on or near College Hill Road — formed an integrated arts complex that replaced decades-old, scattered, and inadequate facilities for studio art, theater, and dance. The Spectator documented the entire arc from early planning (circa 2001 strategic review) through construction, opening events, and programming into the mid-2020s.

Key Points

Bicentennial Initiatives and the $35 Million Arts Goal

The planning origins for Hamilton’s 21st-century arts complex trace to a Mid-States Re-Accreditation Review and Strategic Planning process under President Eugene Tobin, when Pellman was asked to assemble a faculty working group on arts facilities. The decision to make arts construction a central pillar of Hamilton’s capital campaign was largely President Joan Hinde Stewart’s initiative. When the Bicentennial Initiatives campaign was publicly launched in December 2010 at the College’s annual 1812 Leadership Circle Weekend in New York City, it carried a $117 million total goal; $35 million of that was dedicated specifically to arts facilities. The three-part campaign was structured around access ($40M for need-blind admission), creativity ($35M for arts facilities), and opportunity ($30M unrestricted Annual Fund support). (Spectator, January 27, 2011; Spectator, August 20, 2011)

The three facilities designated for the $35M creativity pillar were: 1. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art — a 30,000-square-foot “teaching laboratory” funded by a $10 million lead gift from Keith Wellin ‘50 and his wife Wendy, named in honor of Wellin’s parents 2. A new theater complex (ultimately the Kennedy Center) containing a main theater, a smaller theater for visiting artist presentations and senior projects, a dance studio, dressing rooms, and costume shops 3. The Studio for Trans-media Arts and Related Studies (STARS) — an interdisciplinary space within the Kennedy Center for collaboration among video artists, musicians, dancers, actors, poets, and scientists, housing a screening room, sound stage, video pre-production space, editing rooms, computer classrooms, and a technology office

(Spectator, January 27, 2011)

The April 2015 issue confirmed that 100% of the Wellin Museum’s construction costs came from donors, and that the Kennedy Center for Theatre and Studio Arts was funded primarily by alumni generosity. (Spectator, April 9, 2015)

Inadequate Legacy Facilities: The Case for Building

The 2011 Spectator article laid out the operational conditions motivating the campaign. List Art Center (built 1970, before Kirkland College faculty were hired) had been designed without meaningful faculty input; corridors had been converted into storage rooms and teaching spaces, ventilation was poor, direct sunlight infiltrated the painting studio, and art department studios were scattered — a substantial portion had been housed in the Dunham Residence Hall basement since 1958. The Theater Department had Minor Theater (a former infirmary, then a library) and only one dedicated lab space serving classes, rehearsals, and workshop performances simultaneously; faculty offices were far from performance venues. Sam Pellman, Lenord C. Ferguson Professor of Music, framed the situation: arts facilities “have serious deficiencies… all been sort of jury-rigged.” (Spectator, January 27, 2011; Spectator, February 7, 2013)

The Schambach Center (1988): Historical Context

The Kennedy-era complex built on a precedent set in 1988. Hamilton life trustee and benefactor Hans H. Schambach — born in Germany in 1920, a Hamilton undergraduate (class of 1939, interrupted by WWII), founder of Hamilton Cast Corporation — conceived a dream for a world-class performing arts concert hall after attending an Andre Watts concert in the Alumni Gymnasium in 1982. He had previously endowed a $1 million scholarship fund in 1983. His philanthropy made the Schambach Center possible. The Hans H. Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts was dedicated in a black-tie ceremony on September 23, 1988 — students received the premiere concert, featuring violinist Pinchas Zukerman, the night before. The concert hall within was named the Carol Woodhouse Wellin Performance Hall (later routinely called Wellin Hall). Opening acts included concerts by Bobby McFerrin and Max Roach. (Spectator, September 23, 1988)

Construction of the New Arts Complex (2012–2014)

Construction of the theater and studio arts facility began in the summer of 2012. By February 2013, the Spectator reported visible construction on Martin’s Way and described the building as combining Hamilton’s studio arts and theater departments under one roof, with two theaters, studio arts classrooms, theater classrooms, and the STARS facility. The expected completion date at that point was fall 2013, though the actual opening came in fall 2014. (Spectator, February 7, 2013)

Faculty at the time offered sharply articulated visions. Andrew Holland (visiting assistant professor of theater): “The Theater Department is spread all over campus — the new building brings all of the disparate parts of the department together in one building. It gives theater students a place to call their own.” Robert Knight (assistant professor of art): “The central location… will provide the arts with much improved visibility on campus. The new arts building (as well as the recently completed Wellin Museum) demonstrate the College’s significant commitment to the arts.” Mark Cryer (associate professor of theater): “If you build it, they will come.” (Spectator, February 7, 2013)

The Kevin and Karen Kennedy Center for Theatre and the Studio Arts

The Kevin and Karen Kennedy Center for Theatre and the Studio Arts opened in fall 2014, with the formal theater opening documented as October 10, 2014. (Spectator, September 4, 2014) The building is located on Martin’s Way / College Hill Road, across from the Wellin Museum. Its architecture is a significant departure from Hamilton’s traditional style — glass panels line one entire side, flooding interiors with natural light; ceilings are high, staircases open, and the building is entirely computer-controlled for lighting, heating, and ventilation.

Named spaces within the Kennedy Center: - Romano Theatre — the main 175-seat theater, noted in the first Hamilton College Theatre Production there (Bellini-Sharp’s direction of A Dream Play in November 2014) - Edwin Barrett Theatre (Barrett Lab Theatre) — the smaller, flexible black-box/studio theater, with alternating sound panels to absorb and reflect sound - Linda Johnson Gallery — an exhibition space described by Pellman as “inspiring,” with a ceiling capable of suspending the weight of two cars - STARS (Studio for Trans-media Arts and Related Studies) — interdisciplinary digital arts space - Senior project studios — private workspaces for studio art seniors; Professor Katharine Kuharic, who designed the painting and drawing studios, said: “No school has anything like this.” - Dance studio, dressing rooms, backstage green room, faculty offices, and second-floor lobby

(Spectator, September 4, 2014; Spectator, November 13, 2014)

The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art

The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art opened during Hamilton’s Fallcoming Weekend, October 5–7, 2012. Designed by Boston-based firm Machado and Silvetti Associates, using local materials and local craftsmen, the building was initially described as jarring in its modernity, though it set the architectural template for the Kennedy Center to follow. The museum was conceived as a “teaching laboratory” emphasizing visual literacy and interdisciplinary inquiry. Key features: a permanent collection displayed in modern glass cases in the atrium, an open archive and visible preparation rooms (allowing visitors to see installation processes), a 48-seat classroom, and flexible exhibition galleries.

The inaugural exhibition, “Affinity Atlas” (October 6, 2012 – April 7, 2013), was curated by founding Director Tracy Adler and aimed to connect visual arts to other disciplines; it included work from Hamilton’s own collection, loans from other institutions, and site-specific installations by Max Gaylon, Aaron King, and Johannes VanDerBeek. The museum borrowed crystals from the Hamilton Geosciences Department to extend its interdisciplinary reach. Adler articulated the mission: “Not just art for art’s sake but… as a conduit for learning and visual literacy.”

By 2015, the Wellin Museum was hosting exhibitions from established institutions; the Spectator reviewed the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute’s traveling exhibition “Monet to Matisse: The Age of French Impressionism” (running until November 29, 2015). (Spectator, October 4, 2012; Spectator, September 10, 2015)

Keith Wellin ‘50: Major Benefactor

Keith Wellin ‘50 (born 1925/26, died September 14, 2014, age 88) was Hamilton’s most significant visual arts benefactor of the era. He was a life trustee and served on the Board of Trustees and Investment Committee (1988–1992). After earning his Hamilton degree in English in 1947 (following Army service), he received an MBA from Harvard and built a career on Wall Street. His parents inspired his love of the arts — his father was an amateur painter — and he was a serious art collector, sharing works with Hamilton in 2002 for the “Hamilton Collects American Art” exhibition. His named gifts at Hamilton included: Wellin Hall (Schambach Center), the Wellin Atrium (Taylor Science Center), the Wellin Performance Courts (Little Squash Center), and the $10 million lead gift that funded the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art. He is survived by his wife Wendy. (Spectator, September 18, 2014)

Carole Bellini-Sharp: Central Faculty Figure

Carole Bellini-Sharp joined Hamilton/Kirkland as a theater faculty member in 1973 (technically on the Kirkland faculty, though she directed Minor Theatre on the Hamilton campus from the start). She rose to the Margaret Bundy Scott Professor of Theatre and played what multiple Spectator accounts describe as a major role in the design and construction of the Kennedy Center. She directed the building’s inaugural Hamilton College Theatre Production, A Dream Play (Strindberg, adapted by Caryl Churchill), performed in the Romano Theatre in November 2014. She was appointed to an endowed chair in fall 2012. The September 4, 2014 Spectator quoted her: “Hamilton could become known as an arts school or at least one in which the arts were featured and nurtured.” She retired as Professor of Theatre Emerita and passed away in late August/early September 2019 after 43 years on College Hill. (Spectator, September 4, 2014; Spectator, November 13, 2014; Spectator, September 5, 2019)

Sam Pellman: Faculty Coordinator of Arts Facilities Planning

Sam Pellman, Lenord C. Ferguson Professor of Music, served as Faculty Coordinator of Arts Facilities Planning from the earliest stages of the Bicentennial campaign. His role was to ensure that colleagues in theater and studio art would gain facilities comparable to what the music department had already received with the addition of Wellin Hall. He was the primary faculty voice in Spectator coverage of the arts complex from 2011 through 2014. Quoted at the September 2014 opening: the new center “puts us in a good place in terms of attracting art students” and will make the arts “much more visible at Hamilton.” (Spectator, January 27, 2011; Spectator, September 4, 2014)

Programming and Performances in the New Facilities

• First Hamilton College Theatre production in the Kennedy Center: A Dream Play (dir. Bellini-Sharp), Romano Theatre, November 2014 (Spectator, November 13, 2014)
• First student-run musical in the Kennedy Center: referenced January 2015 as a recent milestone (Spectator, January 29, 2015)
• BNT’s Shakespeare in the Glen (2015): A Midsummer Night’s Dream (dir. Caitlin McQuade ‘18 and Allison Schuette ‘16) inaugurated the Kennedy Center’s outdoor amphitheater — the first performance in that space. Described in the Spectator as “a wondrously fitting location.” (Spectator, September 10, 2015)
• Love’s Labour’s Lost (2016): performed in the amphitheater outside the Kennedy Center, described as only the second performance in that outdoor space (Spectator, September 1, 2016)
• Student art exhibitions: by fall 2015, the Kennedy Center’s second-floor critique room was being used for student art shows (e.g., Lily Johnston ‘16’s “Reception for A Natural Interaction of Color”) (Spectator, September 10, 2015)

Benefit Concert (December 2012)

To raise additional funds for the new theater and studio arts facility (at that time estimated to open summer 2014), Hamilton organized a benefit concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York City in December 2012 featuring Jon Bon Jovi and The Kings of Suburbia. Proceeds were designated for the new arts facilities and student scholarships. The event was aimed primarily at alumni, parents, and Hamilton-affiliated attendees. (Spectator, September 6, 2012)

Impact on Hamilton’s Arts Identity

Multiple sources document that the arts complex was understood not merely as a building project but as a statement about institutional identity. The 2013 Spectator framed the construction as addressing a perceived imbalance between Hamilton’s well-funded STEM facilities (Taylor Science Center, Kirner-Johnson) and its chronically underfunded arts and humanities spaces. First-year students cited the new arts buildings — alongside the Wellin Museum — as factors in their decision to attend Hamilton. Bellini-Sharp’s 2014 prediction that “Hamilton could become known as an arts school” articulated the ambition.

Open Questions

• What were the specific construction costs of the Kennedy Center itself (beyond the $35M campaign goal for all three facilities)? Sources confirm alumni philanthropy covered it but do not give a single figure in the corpus reviewed.
• Who specifically are Kevin and Karen Kennedy, the naming donors for the theater/studio arts building? No Spectator article surveyed provides their biography or gift amount.
• Were there formal dedication ceremonies or public opening events for the Kennedy Center (comparable to the 1988 Schambach black-tie dedication)? The Sept. 4, 2014 article is framed as a preview; the formal theater opening was Oct. 10, 2014, but no dedicated ceremony coverage has been found.
• What happened to Minor Theatre after the Kennedy Center opened — was it renovated, repurposed, or closed?
• What became of List Art Center and the Dunham basement studios after the studio arts relocated to the Kennedy Center?

Sources

Related Topics

• Campus Buildings and Physical Plant
• Campus Life and Culture
• Performing Arts, Music, and Theater
• Bicentennial Initiatives
• Entity: Kennedy Arts Center (Kevin and Karen Kennedy Center for Theatre and the Studio Arts)
• Entity: Wellin Museum of Art (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art)
• Entity: Carole Bellini-Sharp (Margaret Bundy Scott Professor of Theatre Emerita)
• Entity: Keith Wellin ‘50 (benefactor; life trustee)