CENTER FOR COMPUTATION & TECHNOLOGY

By Heath Druzin and Sonya Kimbrell The Advocate The project viewed as an anchor for Baton Rouge's developing downtown entertainment district opened to crowds, music and cautious optimism from artists Saturday morning. After a ceremony attended by, among others, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Mayor-President Kip Holden, hundreds of people filed into the Shaw Center for the Arts to get their first look inside the $65 million project. Within the maze-like building's six floors Saturday was live music, acting classes and demonstrations of the different types of art the center will display, as well as the opening of the Tsunami sushi restaurant later that evening. Shaw Center Executive Director Andre Mika laid out an ambitious goal for the center Saturday. "This is probably the most important opening of any arts project in the history of the city. It's going to change the way the people of Baton Rouge interact with the arts forever," he said. The early returns are encouraging: reservations for Tsunami's opening night filled up Thursday and the center's opening live show, featuring a cappella group Take 6, sold out Saturday. Most of the funding for the project came from four partners: the state provided $24.7 million, which includes $2.6 million in land; LSU gave $12.6 million; the Baton Rouge Area Foundation gave $9.8 million, and the City-Parish $2.2 million. Private donors provided about $15 million. Including $2.6 million in land costs, the project cost about $65 million. Artists from various disciplines were a large part of the grand opening and expressed hope that the center would be a boon for the Baton Rouge arts community. In the LSU Museum of Art, which moved from an on-campus location with 2,500 square feet of total space to a 50,000-square-foot fifth-floor facility at the Shaw Center, performance artists complimented the paintings, silverwork and pottery on display. In the "African Gold" section of the museum, Oneal A. Isaac had a crowd transfixed as he told a traditional West African folktale called "The Blind Man and the Hunter." He spoke and gestured his way through the tale, as he worked his way to the simple moral of the story. Isaac, who worked as a chemist before taking up storytelling in 1993, said most of his stories originated in the same region as the West African art installations that surrounded him. Isaac, who has worked with the theatrical group Playmakers at the Baton Rouge Little Theater, said he thinks the center will give the arts community a "big boost." "Hopefully it will be accessible to small arts organizations who don't have the funding," he said. On the second floor, Therese Knowles, an artist and art teacher at the East Baton Rouge Arts and Technology School, taught young children the basics of pottery. She said many Baton Rougeans go to New Orleans for the arts and that the center can change that by acting as a meeting place for local artists. "We don't utilize our artists, our performing arts to their max," Knowles said, adding, "the fact that we finally have a centered location for the arts, a variety of arts, will bring the community together." A technological eon from the simple potter's wheel Knowles was using was the display put out by the LSU Laboratory for Creative Arts and Technologies. Using small plastic squares with radio frequency identification tags similar to those used by some large retailers to monitor stock, a machine developed by the laboratory called a video browser pulled animated short films from the squares and projected them onto a screen. The Laboratory for Creative Arts and Technology has a digital studio in the Shaw Center and the lab's director, Steven David Beck, said taking part of the program off-campus makes it more accessible. In April, the Shaw Center will host the Red Stick International Animation Festival, an event organized largely by the laboratory staff. "No one wants to come to 228 Johnston Hall, but they will want to come to the Shaw Center," Beck said. In the afternoon, the sun broke through and warmed the Irene W. Pennington Rooftop Terrace and Sculpture Garden atop the center, treating visitors to a bright sweeping view of the Mississippi. Standing on the open-air terrace Saturday, Baton Rouge resident Ronald White recollected how downtown has changed since the 1960s when he was growing up. "You could hardly walk downtown on the weekends," he said. That was in the days when major department stores, such as Sears Roebuck, were open for business downtown. "Before malls," he said. White and his wife, Laurent, said they are impressed with the 125,000-square-foot building on the banks of the Mississippi River at Lafayette Street and North Boulevard. Laurent White said she thinks the center will be a good draw for tourists, but she believes it will be good for Baton Rouge's people, too. "There is a certain peace and calmness about the place," she said. Jamie Schlottman of Baton Rouge came to the opening with his mother, Mary P. Schlottman of Hattiesburg, Miss., and his two boys, Stephen, 5, and Alex, 3. Schlottman's wife, Gianna, is assistant director of the Brunner Gallery, so he has been involved with the planning for a while. "The thing I keep hearing is how different this place is. There's a big-city feel to it," he said. He said he was surprised at how the center's activities held the attention of his children, particularly the jazz trio performing in the Manship Theatre. Dodd Davis of Baton Rouge brought his three children, Avery, 6; Blake, 5; and John Carter, 2, for the Kinder Music Class. As they were getting ready to go home, the children played leapfrog with the timed water fountain display in front of the center -- and lost. Davis said what impresses him most about the center is that there seems to be a good mix of activities -- something for children and adults. "I grew up in Baton Rouge, but I've traveled to other places. Baton Rouge has always lacked a cultural center. I think this is great," Davis said. Abby Jones of Baton Rouge said she thinks the word is already spreading about what the Shaw Center offers. On her way to the opening, she heard from friends who were making plans to go to a music performance Saturday night. "It's just really good to see life downtown," she said. Chad Calder contributed to this report.