This fall, construction crews will put the final touches on the Jeanne Tannenbaum Center for Creative Practice. Its copper-toned siding already lights up the corner of Tate Street and Gate City Boulevard, a focal point of UNC Greensboro’s Millennial Campus Initiative.
The Tannenbaum Center will host new, transformative enterprises through partnerships between UNCG faculty, students, and community members. Its flexible, modular spaces will encourage collaboration. Industry-standard equipment, such as an LED volume, will be used as tools to support interdisciplinary innovation.
UNCG will celebrate the Tannenbaum Center’s opening this fall with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Here is a preview of what is to come:
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A tour of the interior under construction.
State-of-the-art technology give innovators tools to expand
At the Tannenbaum Center, people will visualize concepts using new, state-of-the-art technology. One of the most exciting features will be the LED volume in the immersive studio. Hit films and TV shows like “The Mandalorian” and “Stranger Things” have used LED volumes in their production.
At 16×40 feet long, the LED volume will be the largest of its kind in any UNC institution. Its curved surface and motion capture technology offers 3D interaction for research and engagement.
An aerospace engineer may use it to display all angles of a prototype engine. A video game designer may walk through the world they built for their games. A company can use real-time motion capture to walk employees through a training scenario. The immersive studio with LED volume will host interactive workshops, presentations, and performances. Community events featuring the LED volume include film screenings and video game nights.
The Tannenbaum Center will host LED volume trainings for faculty and industry professionals beginning this fall. UNCG’s Department of Media Studies and Applied Research in Computer Arts, Digitization, and Esports (ARCADE) are both partners in activating the LED volume and incorporating it into classroom instruction, community-driven, and industry-driven projects that spark bold ideas and contribute to student success.
Tannenbaum Made brings more ‘Soul’ and side hustles to Greensboro
Upcoming programs at the Tannenbaum Center are already driving innovators to pitch ideas, collaborate, and combine talents. One such example is the team-up of ethnobotanist and Grammy-winning musician Justin Robinson and filmmaker D.L. Anderson. They are part of the Tannenbaum Made (TM) incubator program.
Robinson and Anderson will partner with UNCG’s Genetic Counseling Program on “German Soul.” This live documentary experience will feature film, live music, and narration tracing Robinson’s journey through his family recipes and genealogy from the Carolinas to West Africa.
Another undertaking promoting social change will come through the Tannenbaum Center’s Creative Community Connectors (CCC) program. The inaugural member is Shante Renee Woody, former manager of The People’s Market, a farmer’s market in the Glenwood neighborhood next to UNCG.
Woody is introducing Side Hustle University (SHU) for local entrepreneurs and emerging business owners. It will support their ventures through workshops, networking events, and resource fairs. Its Masterclass summit will bring together educators, business owners, and other experts to share stories and strategies for long-term growth.
These partnerships advance UNCG’s Millennial Campus, one of its initiatives to form public-private partnerships that promote health and prosperity in Greensboro while offering more academic experiences for students.
Faculty and students work, learn, get public involved in research
UNCG experts will demonstrate the Tannenbaum Center’s versatility through the PROTOTYPE Faculty Fellows. This grants residencies to up to four faculty members committed to community engagement and creative practice.
This year’s PROTOTYPE Faculty Fellows represent the School of Dance, Department of Media Studies, Department of Interior Architecture, and Genetic Counseling Program. Each fellow will hold public events at the Tannenbaum Center so that the community can interact with their work in progress.
UNCG will further inform the experience at the Tannenbaum Center with its Faculty Advisory Committee, comprised of experts from across the university that support its mission and vision.
Students will see some of their work go on display within its walls. This fall, the Tannenbaum Center will host Limits of Freedom, an exhibition exploring the lives of free and enslaved African Americans in Guilford County. It was created by students and faculty from the Department of History for the America 250 NC project.
Arts Administration students will work behind the scenes at the Tannenbaum Center on programming and operations. With visionary work happening mere steps away from their classes, they will learn the ins and outs of marketing, communication, event programming, and community engagement.
UNCG cannot wait to open the doors to the Jeanne Tannenbaum Center for Creative Practice. As the countdown to its completion ticks down, be on the lookout for dates of public events.
