Emma Eccles Jones Fine Arts House Photo: University Marketing & Communications
WRITTEN BY MARINA GOMBERG
Nestled on University of Utah’s upper campus on a charming half-circle street lined with big trees and similar looking houses sits the Emma Eccles Jones Fine Arts House.
Over the course of a year, 12 College of Fine Arts students transform from strangers into lifelong friends inside these walls. It’s the magic that happens among creative, curious, engaged residents who get to cook meals together, collaborate on creative projects, binge their favorite shows, explore interdisciplinarity, and stay up all night talking about art and life.
Paul Leland Hill (BM Piano Performance ’16), who was both a resident and the Resident Advisor, described it as “A space to have some of my most interesting conversations about what art is, exploring what it means to be human and to be a community.”
Fine Arts House residents (Photo courtesy of Cece Otto)
Established in 2001 by the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, the Arts House, as residents colloquially refer to it, is part of Officers Circle: a living and learning community comprised of 10 individual houses.
Every year, the makeup and personality of the residents is different. Nevertheless, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs, Liz Leckie, PhD, who oversees the Arts House, notices commonalities. She describes how there’s always the early risers and the night owls and perhaps arguments over when to do the dishes. She says each cohort also “creates — and sometimes have to revisit — house rules that respect the needs of individuals living there.”
A muse in its own right, the Arts House boasts a baby grand piano, a dance room with a barre, and plenty of open space to practice and create. Imagine table reads for film scripts, spray paint projects, auditions, live music, dance rehearsals, and filmmaking.
Fine arts residents and students who were part of a 2017 collaboration between residents Taylot Mott (on the ground) and Jessica Baynes (standing second from the right)
(Photo courtesy of Jessica Baynes)
Fine Arts House residents in 2017 with Liz Leckie (far right)
(Photo courtesy of Jessica Bynes)
Whether the residents are hosting Broadway nights or prepping for the legendary Halloween celebrations in “Officers Hallow,” living in the Arts House facilitates interdisciplinary connections in ways unique to spaces outside of the classroom or studio. By sharing their passions with their neighbors from other areas of campus, they expand the U’s community of arts enthusiasts.
Ashley Jian Thomson (BFA Ballet & BS Strategic Communications ’18) was a resident for two years and remembers entering a welcoming space and then becoming one of those who maintained it.
“My first year, I was being invited to arts events, and by the last year, I was the person doing the inviting!” she said. “It was a positive chain reaction that brought more people into the arts circle.”
And within that circle, the bonds formed by residents are powerful. By living in the house, students discover a deeper appreciation for art forms outside of their own and become committed to the importance of community involvement to a thriving culture of the arts.
"In music, it can be really easy to just be in the practice room all the time and ignore everything else going on around,” said Kylie Howard (BM Instrumental Performance ‘18). “But living with people from all disciplines not only made me aware of other art forms but appreciate them at a much deeper level.”
It’s the curiosity and understanding cultivated in the unique environment of the Arts House that fuels collaboration, growth, and change.
Jessica Baynes (BFA Modern Dance, ’19), who now professionally collaborates with her former housemates, remembers one year when she “was producing an adaptive dance concert and several of the Fine Arts House folks came together to support. One housemate designed flyers, another filmed marketing materials, and my roommate photographed some of the process. I still use some of those professional shots in my portfolio today. I believe many of these experiences informed how I approach creative collaboration, which is now a focus of my career.”
Leckie, the steward of this place and its potential for positive impact, encapsulates it best: “Each year the students living in the Arts House become a supportive community. They create ways to make together, they offer constructive critiques, and show up in their housemates’ audiences and galleries. By living and learning together, the members of the Arts House create bonds that last long after they graduate from the University.”
Home is where the art is. ▪
