To benefit the University Art Museum Expansion Campaign and celebrate the groundbreaking of phase one, the University Art Museum will host the fifth annual fundraising party, VISUALIZE on Friday, March 27. The festivities will be held at the University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington Street. All proceeds will benefit the University Art Museum expansion fund.

The event begins at 6 p.m. with a festive groundbreaking ceremony, which is FREE and open to the public. Weather permitting, the ceremony will be held in the “A” parking lot behind the University Center for the Arts (alternate location TBA).

The VISUALIZE party starts at 7 p.m. in the museum lobby. The vibrant evening includes exhibition viewing, live music, an engaging print-making activity, fine wines, craft beer, and delicious appetizers. Tickets to the VISUALIZE party are $75. Click here to register online, or call the Office of CSU Events at (877) 498-7787.

VISUALIZE benefits the University Art Museum expansion fund, established to create a dynamic architectural addition to the museum to house the bequest of the Hartford/Tandstad collection. In June of 2011 the University Art Museum (UAM) became the recipient of a promised gift from the Hartford-Tandstad Collection. This gift includes over 200 works of art, including major works by pivotal figures in the history of European art, and an extensive art research library. The gift was made with the understanding that the UAM would expand the existing museum-standard facility with additional exhibition galleries to house the collection. The collection will enable the museum to provide remarkable cultural programming and exhibitions to the people of Northern Colo. and to the CSU community.

With funding for phase one complete, fundraising continues for the construction of an outdoor sculpture garden and promenade, enhancing the patron experience and connecting the University Art Museum to the newly completed Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising. Additional fundraising also provides for the renovation of the current museum space, including a “living room” and learning center to house the BRAINY (Bringing Arts Integration to Youth) program, the museum’s outreach to high-need area schools. Additional outreach plans include seniors and other community constituencies.

“The expansion is critical because of the museum’s impact on the local and campus communities,” said Linny Frickman, director of the University Art Museum. “The new collection will give us permanent exhibitions, allowing us to develop more in-depth curriculum for the expanded facility,” she said.

Naming opportunities remain for galleries within the museum, as well as for the “living room” and learning center, library, and sculpture garden.

VISUALIZE is sponsored by Gold Level Sponsors: Anonymous; Jim and Kay (in memoriam) Bolick; CSU Department of Art and Art History; Patricia and Michael Coronel; Fransen Pittman General Contracters/SLATERPAULL; hord/coplan/macht; Jim and Wendy Franzen; Linny and Elmo Frickman; Susan Kreul-Froseth and Bruce Froseth; Healing Arts Family Medicine; Carol Ann and Gary Hixon; Robert and Maureen Hoffert; Deborah Shields and Chris Jensen; Marie and Thomas Livingston; Tom Lundberg and Dick Christensen; Jim and Christy Martell; Malcolm and Gail McNeill; and Elisabeth and Bryan Soth. Silver Sponsors: John and Jeanie Aronson; Loren Crabtree and Monica Christen; Holly and Jim Dickinson; Carole Egger; Patrick Fahey; HighCraft Builders; Jane Sullivan; and Gary Voss and Judy Sawyer-Voss.

For additional VISUALIZE sponsorship information please call Linny Frickman at (970) 491-7634.

For more information on the expansion campaign, naming rights, and how to contribute please contact Tonya Malik-Carson, Assistant Director of Development for the College of Liberal Arts at Tonya.Malik-Carson@colostate.edu or (970) 491-3558, or Linny Frickman, Director of the University Art Museum at Linda.Frickman@colostate.edu or (970) 491-7634.

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The University Center for the Arts at Colorado State University provides an enriched venue in which the study and practice of art, music, theatre, and dance are nurtured and sustained by building the skills and knowledge needed by future generations of arts professionals to become contributors to the essential vitality of our culture and society. For more information, visit UCA.colostate.edu.