Context
In 1990, the state purchased the 33-acre campus of the former Golden Valley Lutheran College for use by the Center for Arts Education. The junior college campus has been converted to an arts high school and outreach educational resource center. However, the facilities remain totally inadequate. In 1994, the accreditation authority of Minnesota schools visited the center as part of its review cycle. A major finding resulting from this visit was the inadequacy of school facilities both in terms of quality and quantity. While lauding the staff for making creative use of the limited space, the committee concluded that physical constraints and the forced sharing of space for incompatible functions were restricting curricular focus and potential, displacing students from the classroom, requiring that all major performances be conducted off-site which is expensive and logistically difficult, creating safety hazards, and exacerbating conflict.

Process
In response to the constraints facing the center a Strategic Planning Process has been undertaken to examine current and emerging needs of the center and to define the capital projects that would be required to address and meet those needs. A participatory pre-design process has been devised where the center staff, students, members of the parents advisory committee articulated deficiencies needs and aspirations, and designed what they considered to be ideal spaces. The results of this process entailed locating new and existing activities in the most appropriate places within the campus. Analyzing the participantsÕ contributions revealed several popular themes including the creation of a new performing arts center. Alternative proposals were proposed and three master plan options were presented to the participants and one was unanimously selected as long-term strategic vision.

Strategic Plan
The Minnesota Center for Arts Education is located in five buildings. They include a 60.000 square foot main administration/classroom building, the GAIA classroom building, and the Alpha Beta Delta dormitories. These and several small support buildings surround an existing pond, all of which constitute the present campus. The analysis of the campus facilities suggests the need to remove the dormitory, a mechanical plant building and an isolated classroom building because of excessive renovation costs. The proposed master plan allows for expansion to occur in phases in order to achieve a cohesive campus plan and accommodate an increased population from 300 to 400 students. The area necessary to meet the diverse space requirements is 178,885 square feet. The new campus is proposed in manner that allows all new development to occur around the existing administration building, which is expanded to include a new performing arts theater, dance studios, music rehearsal, and technical support area. It will also include new science classroom, laboratory areas, and classrooms for literary arts, social studies, and communications. A new students center with rehearsal and studio areas is envisioned to connect classroom additions to the dormitories. The new center allows for community to independently access primary programming areas including the research and technology center, performing arts theater and teacher education center.