University Art Galleries, University of California, Irvine, United States

The University Art Galleries are committed to promoting an inter-generational dialogue between 60s/70s neo-avant-garde art and contemporary visual culture. Accordingly, our curatorial mission is to keep an eye on our modernist past while promoting the most innovative aesthetic and political debates of our post-modern present. From this vantage, the projects commissioned provoke intelligent debate on the subject of art in its most expansive poetic definition. What distinguishes our program is the unwavering commitment to publishing scholarly texts in catalogue/book form in order to disseminate research-based information into the community, providing a venue for the promotion of innovative discourse surrounding mixed media production today.

UAG provides several exhibition platforms for inter-generational and interdisciplinary dialogue. The Major Works of Art Series commissions original projects by canonical artists working today. The Emerging Artist Series features solo projects by a set of younger artists informed by the legacies showcased in the Major Works series. The Critical Aesthetics Program commissions new work by internationally renowned mid-career artists. Augmenting this inter-generational dialogue, UAG also produces larger thematic group exhibitions alternately showcasing historical and contemporary art and film projects. UAG further promotes an active dialogue between UCI residents and the local and international art communities through colloquia, conferences, visiting artist lectures and theme-based films series, all of which are open to the public. As the galleries continue to mature we stand committed to being an experimental exhibition space different from the current – but largely traditional – art biennial and film festival platforms.

The Claire Trevor School of the Arts hosts a number of theaters and galleries, such as the Beall Center for Art and Technology. The school is also known for its redesigned Arts Plaza, which was conceived by Maya Lin and completed in 2006. It serves as a meeting place, study area, outdoor performing arts center, exhibition hall, and lecture area.

UC Irvine also hosts a Cross-Cultural Center (the Cross), the first of its kind in the University of California. This facility serves as a multicultural gathering area and venue for events that foster understanding between the various cultures represented on campus. Currently, the Cross-Cultural Center is undergoing a renovation and expansion effort that will double its size and offer more venues for the seven ethnic umbrella organizations and the numerous cultural clubs that operate under them.

Large-scale events make use of the Bren Events Center (the Bren), UCI’s largest venue and home to many of its sporting events. It offers 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) of space and has seating for 5,500. The Bren Events Center is adjacent to the large Crawford Athletics Complex, where UCI’s athletes train and compete in state-of-the-art facilities, which include a recently renovated baseball park, track and field, and swimming complex.

The Anteater Recreation Center (ARC) boasts 89,000 ft (27,000 m)2 of indoor facility designed to house Campus Recreation programs. Anteater Recreation Center Fields, adjacent to the ARC, are a 25-acre (100,000 m2) outdoor complex that supports Campus Recreation Field and court activities. The Sailing Facility, located on the Lower Newport Bay, is a dock spaced leased from Orange Coast College that supports UC Irvine’s sailing fleet.