The Performing Arts and Humanities Building
Provides state-of-the-art facilities for the UMBC Department of Theatre, Music, Dance and the Linehan Artist Scholars Program. In the PAHB you will find the 200 seat Proscenium Theatre, 125 seat Black Box Theatre, 350 Seat Concert Hall, Instrument Ensemble Rehearsal Hall, Recording Studio, Practice Rooms and Music Tech Labs, 120 Seat Dance Studio, Dance Technology Studio, and CIRCA. Academic and faculty spaces for the Departments of Dance, Music and Theater and rehearsal studios, technical theatre and design lab, costume shop, scene shop, dressing rooms, conference rooms and class rooms round out the arts infrastructure. The PAHB is a premier facility in the region, providing a home for the arts in Baltimore and UMBC.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture began in 1989 as the Fine Arts Gallery of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The establishment of the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture—founded in 2003—represented the culmination of a twelve-year effort to expand upon the gallery’s original mission of presenting exhibitions and public programs. The Center has broadened the mandate of the Fine Arts Gallery to bring it into line with the wide-ranging, humanities-based mission of UMBC as a Research Institution and Honors University. Historically, the Fine Arts Gallery has served as the university’s principal exhibition space—a forum for students, professors, and staff, as well as the general public to experience contemporary visual culture and to dialogue about important cultural and aesthetic issues.
The Department of Special Collections
The Department of Special Collections of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery collects, houses, preserves, and makes accessible materials that are original, rare, unique, fragile, historical, and archival. Our diverse collections of rare books, photographs, manuscripts, archives and artifacts are available for research use by faculty, students, visiting scholars and the general public. All materials must be viewed on site in the reading room. A knowledgeable staff is available to assist researchers and to retrieve materials for study.
The Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
The Albin O. Kuhn Gallery serves as one of the principal art galleries in the region. Items from the Special Collections Department, as well as art and artifacts from all over the world are displayed in challenging and informative exhibitions for the University community and the public. Moreover, traveling exhibitions are occasionally presented, and the Gallery also sends some of its exhibits throughout the state and nation.
The Imaging Research Center
For 25 years, the IRC has taken an entrepreneurial approach to leveraging new technologies and emerging media platforms to create meaningful connections between knowledge and people. State-of-the-art facilities enable research in 3D visualization, immersive technologies, interactive installations, feature-length films, social media, and mobile device applications. The center is also an educational facility where faculty and undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students engage in real-world, project-oriented, creative and collaborative research to complement learning in the classroom and prepare students for further learning and life after the university.