The Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center (HFAC) is the main location for

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

's (BYU) College of Fine Arts and Communications, housing most of the college's departments and divisions. It consists of several named stages and concert spaces, as well as classrooms, study rooms, painting studios, theatre work rooms, and faculty offices. The arts center was inaugurated in 1964. The HFAC was designed by architect

William Pereira William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably pr ...

in the modernist style popular at the time of its construction. The building is notable for its dramatic multi-floor, open, interior atrium that serves as an exhibition gallery and an acoustically-resonate space for occasional concerts. The building’s entrances feature four dramatic open patios. The patios’ open design maximizes natural light to multiple wings and creates exterior workspaces for students. The HFAC is located immediately to the south of the Museum of Art, and just north of the Wilkinson Student Center. In 2022, BYU announced plans to demolish the building and build a new arts building in its place, in addition to the new music building announced a few years prior. Construction is set to begin in 2023. In the meantime, non-musical programs formerly housed in the HFAC will temporarily occupy renovated space in the former Provo High School building.

General Overview

The HFAC houses the School of Music, the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, the Department of Art, the Department of Design, and BYU Arts Production. The HFAC has over 100 rooms of various types, including 53 practice rooms and four art galleries. The building has seven pipe organs that are considered to be amongst the most notable in Utah, the oldest of which dates back to 1970, although it has since been largely rebuilt.

Named Areas

Following is a list and short explanations of named areas in the HFAC.

de Jong Concert Hall

The De Jong Concert Hall is the largest room in the HFAC. It is named for Gerrit de Jong, Jr. who was the first dean of the College of Fine Arts at BYU. The hall has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 1269. It is used for most concerts, both by choral groups and symphonic groups as well as many musicals, operas and dance performances. It is also used during the spring and summer terms for the weekly university devotionals. While most concerts at the de Jong are by BYU groups, outside groups such as the

Utah Symphony The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving c ...

also perform there. Events at the de Jong not only generate articles in the BYU paper but also are mentioned in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

publications such as the Deseret News and the

Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History A ...

as well as in independent

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

oriented magazines such as

Meridian Magazine Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor are the founders of the Latter-day Saint oriented website ''Meridian Magazine''. They have also issued a revised edition of Lucy Mack Smith's history of Joseph Smith which reintroduces material from Lu ...

. The hall is so central to the school of music's operations that studies aimed at getting ideal sound quality in the hall have been published by the Audio Engineering Society. The de Jong hall was designed by

Harvey Fletcher Harvey Fletcher (September 11, 1884 – July 23, 1981) was an American physicist. Known as the "father of stereophonic sound", he is credited with the invention of the 2-A audiometer and an early electronic hearing aid. He was an investigator i ...

B. Cecil Gates Opera Workshop

Located right next to the de Jong Concert hall this room is used for rehearsals of student produced operas. It is named for B. Cecil Gates.

Bent F. Larsen Art Gallery

This is a three level gallery, most of the space being on the main floor with the two higher floors opening onto the main floor. Besides being used for various art displays, it serves as the lobby for most of the main theatres, such as the Pardoe, the Madsen Recital Hall and the de Jong Concert Hall. The Larsen Art Gallery is also periodically used as a site for dances. The Larsen Art Gallery has been used for presentations by the BYU Conservation Laboratory of Fine Art. The Larsen Gallery is rated as one of the best art galleries in Provo.

Franklin and Florence Jepperson Madsen Recital Hall

The Franklin and

Florence Jepperson Madsen Florence Jepperson Madsen (December 15, 1886 – April 8, 1977) was an American contralto singer, vocal instructor, and professor of music. She served as the head of the music department of Brigham Young University (BYU) for ten years. She was b ...

Recital Hall accommodates choral group practices during the week. It is also used for solo and chamber productions by students, faculty and even at times visiting groups. The Madsen Recital Hall was the main location of the 2005

Primrose International Viola Competition The Primrose International Viola Competition (PIVC), also referred to as the Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition (PMSC), is an international music competition for viola players sponsored by the American Viola Society and named for the 20th-cen ...

, sponsored by the

American Viola Society The American Viola Society (AVS) is an organization headquartered in Dallas, Texas that encourages excellence in performance, pedagogy, research, composition, and lutherie by fostering communication and friendship among violists of all skill levels, ...

Elbert H. Eastmond Art Seminar Room

This room of slightly more than is designed for short showings of a broad variety of art objects.

Philip N. Margetts Arena Theatre

This theatre is designed so that seating and acting can occur in any part of the room.

Miriam Nelke Experimental Theatre

Besides being used for theatre productions, this theatre is also at times used for the College of Fine Arts and Communications Thursday forums.

T. Earl and Kathryn Pardoe Drama Theatre

This theatre seats 509 people and is designed in a tradition proscenium stage setup.

Laycock Endowment

The Laycock Endowment began in 2003 and works to connect students with actual projects for clients, that normally involve inter-disciplinary cooperation. From 2011-2016 the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration in the Arts (created to house the endowment work) operated as an official center in the College of Fine Arts and Communications. The Center included work for various BYU entities, and a reading application developed for the US Library of Congress.''LDS Church News'', June 1, 2014, p. 6

References

External links

BYU Department of Visual Arts Galleries

BYU Arts: Venues

List of and short explanation of named areas in the HFAC
{{Provo, Utah University and college arts centers in the United States University and college academic buildings in the United States Event venues established in 1964 William Pereira buildings Arts centers in Utah Performing arts centers in Utah Brigham Young University buildings Tourist attractions in Provo, Utah 1964 establishments in Utah