Carleton has named Steve Richardson '86 as its new Director of the Arts. Richardson has worked at Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis since 1990, earning national recognition for his work there. He’s served as producing director since 1995, helping the theater earn a 2005 Tony Award for outstanding regional theater. Richardson will be charged with developing the arts at Carleton, promoting arts outreach to local schools, the Northfield arts community, and the Twin Cities area arts community and beyond. He will be responsible for management of the new interdisciplinary arts center, coordinating major art events, and performance and exhibition series, along with managing curricular and co-curricular arts activities.

Carleton College has selected the Pegasus Group to provide owner representative and project management services and the McGough Companies as the construction manager and general contractor for the Collaboratory project, the site of the former Northfield middle school. Both firms are based in St. Paul, Minn.

Carleton College has selected the firm of Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle LTD (MS&R) as the architect for development of the former Northfield middle school into a facility geared toward creative collaboration––known informally as the Collaboratory––that will support multiple student and classroom projects and allow faculty members to teach with words, images, sounds, and narrative in a variety of media.

“Traditionally, we’ve asked, ‘How does an education in science or social science make you a better artist?’" says Scott Bierman, dean of the College and professor of economics. "Now the question is being turned around to, ‘How does some facility in the arts make you a better scientist?’ Creativity is all about identifying a problem, seeing it in a different light, and putting it back together again in a way that generates important new thinking.”

Carleton is one step closer to realizing a bold new vision for the arts.

Martha and Art Kaemmers’ support will help give the arts a new home at Carleton.