Published: May 20, 2008 09:25 pm         

NRCTC announces fine arts program

LEWISBURG — New River Community and Technical College President Ted Spring announced Tuesday the Greenbrier Valley campus is gearing up for a multimillion-dollar renovation project which will create a fine arts center and upgrade its existing science labs in Greenbrier Hall.

“This is an effort we are proud to begin,” Spring said. “Locating a fine arts center in Lewisburg was an easy decision. The culture here and the community itself is the perfect place to offer this program.”

Spring said a building currently being leased to the state Division of Highways will be renovated into the school’s new fine arts center. The college’s associate of fine arts degree will be the first of its kind for any community college in the state, officials said, and have a studio arts or arts management option.

Spring said the Greenbrier Valley campus upgrades are part of the college’s 10-year facilities plan spurred on by the $16.5 million appropriation by the state Legislature earlier this year. A new 50,000-square-foot Beckley campus building is also in the mix, he said.

Earlier in the day, Spring presided over a ceremony honoring Dr. Kyle Fort and his wife Ann for their philanthropic efforts with the Greenbrier Community College Foundation, the fundraising arm for the Greenbrier Valley campus. The Forts will be honored nationally Nov. 7 in Washington by the Council for Regional Development. Since 1998, the Forts have helped raise more than $7 million for the community college.

“This is a community effort and we just happened to be the figureheads,” Kyle Fort said Tuesday.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@

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