CCAD’s Creative Drive is a $12-million comprehensive solution to enhance one of the strongest art and design colleges in the country. The campaign will accomplish two important ends:
1. Consolidate, enlarge, and substantially upgrade equipment in studios on our downtown campus.
2. Increase resources available long-term to support student merit scholarships and need-based grants, off-campus study, and professional development for faculty.
For more than 129 years, CCAD has stood out as a unique community asset. Each year, over 200 students receive a bachelor of fine arts from CCAD—and half of those graduates remain in central Ohio to join the creative services workforce, conceiving and creating the things we use every day. Their innovations shape fashion, furniture, paintings, films and memorable ads. They design our homes, products, and packaging, and create the works of art that beautify and add significance to our surroundings. The presence of CCAD in central Ohio generates more than $50 million annually in local economic impact.
But the other half of our graduates do leave Ohio and are now making contributions all over the world in practically every creative endeavor and industry, from Pixar to Nike to the pages of Artforum.
FORM
DOWNTOWN CAMPUS. REVITALIZED.
Central Ohioans are witnessing the revival of downtown Columbus as a vibrant, 24-hour community with vital amenities for urban living, and. CCAD’s strategic campus row location helps fuel the downtown renaissance. CCAD has been rapidly growing, and its dense mixture of classrooms, living and work spaces, galleries and gardens is the shape of things to come. Think of the new LoAnn Crane Center for Design (opened in 2005), or the spacious new campus quad at Cleveland Avenue and East Gay Street. Or the new residence hall for upperclassmen, rising now across from the quad and scheduled to open in 2009.
However, our community of artists and designers must have additional on-campus work spaces and high-tech tools for both individual and team-based creative growth. Much like venture capital, philanthropic investments are needed to sustain our preparation of creative professionals in the design, entertainment, and arts fields.
Capital expenditures of $8.8 million will enable us to achieve the renovation and new construction we need. These funds will help us adaptively renovate the newly purchased Broad Street Facility (former Byers auto dealership) into studios, workspaces, galleries, and classrooms to support our Fashion, Industrial Design, and Foundation Studies programs.
Adaptive re-use of the Broad Street Facility: In 2006 we were presented with a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The Byers family approached us regarding our long-stated interest in buying the family’s 105,000-square-foot building at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and East Broad Street. We did not hesitate.
This single building will allow us to consolidate, upgrade, and enlarge facilities that are currently parceled out into cramped and outdated spaces all over campus. The building will include:
- Foundation Studio Complex: Spacious, well-equipped workspaces for every student in the Foundation Studies courses; large, up-to-date classrooms; and a suite of faculty offices
- Industrial Design Center: Contemporary, custom-designed studios, faculty offices, and dedicated display areas for student work
- Fabrication Studio: Consolidated, state-of-the-art facility to fabricate wood and plastics—for Industrial Design and other three-dimensional studio classes
- Fashion Design Complex: Specialized workspaces to support the rapidly growing Fashion Design program; fabric library; and faculty offices
In addition, the Broad Street Facility will provide CCAD with:
- Large, flexible and highly visible gallery space
- Significantly increased space for general design classrooms, meeting rooms, and faculty offices
- Valuable parking
The benefits to be gained for our students are almost incalculable, and renovations are well under way. Parts of the building will open for classes in August 2008.
BALANCE
POTENTIAL GENIUS. NURTURED.
Unlike state universities or community colleges, CCAD is a private institution and receives no government operating support. Nor does it depend on philanthropy for its survival. CCAD is a tuition-driven enterprise on sound footing with conservative fiscal management.
Our assurance of excellence, which guarantees a nimble and thoughtful curriculum, advanced professional development for our faculty, and funds for student scholarships, is the CCAD Creative Drive goal of an additional $3.2 million in endowment and project funds to nurture these needs.
Full tuition for the 2008-09 academic year is $22,920. However, more than 80% of our students receive merit scholarships or need-based grants that make a CCAD education more affordable.
Some of this assistance is funded through contributions and endowment income. Most scholarships and grants, however, are provided through tuition forgiveness. In effect, CCAD allocates over $10.2 million a year or 29% of total revenues to scholarships and grants. This robust level of subsidy makes CCAD competitive with both lower-cost state institutions and wealthier private ones.
Growth in our institutional endowment ensures that we will not lose creative talent to another institution. We can competitively attract, retain, nurture, and launch the careers of tomorrow’s creative leadership. Endowment contributions enable donors to support their choice of designated funds for merit scholarships, need-based grants to those with limited financial resources, off-campus study opportunities to open the world’s doors to our students, and special funds for faculty excellence and creative leadership development. We seek a total of $2.2 million to support scholarships and grants for financial need, and $1 million for off-campus study and faculty development.
VALUE
YOUR INVESTMENT. MAGNIFIED.
CCAD has experienced a rise in its already substantial profile and reputation since Dennison W. Griffith has been president of the college. It has grown into one of the strongest and most successful independent art and design colleges in the country, boasting recognized alumni in every sector of creative services.
It is fast becoming a destination college, widely known as a leader in art and design education. We are an essential provider of creative capital for a contemporary workforce desperate for innovation and adaptability. The presence of CCAD graduates makes Columbus a more attractive place to live and build business.
CCAD's 10-year strategic plan focuses on quality, not quantity. By design, the college will become stronger rather than bigger. Its mission and purpose are to ensure that its distinguished and progressive faculty and new facilities and technologies provide a transformative educational experience for artists and designers who have the potential to become tomorrow’s creative and cultural leaders.
All that is required is visionary investors to make it happen. The tangible outcomes of this campaign, and the special satisfaction of participating, are worthy of such an investment. It provides alumni, donors, and community leaders alike with the opportunity to play a vital role in ongoing, measurable student success and institutional recognition. We’re almost to our goal. Help us reach it.