In 2010, when the newly amalgamated faculty of arts was created, there became a need for a student lounge. Current Board of Governors student-at-large and fourth-year history student Vincent St. Pierre, who was a Students’ Union arts representative at the time, set out to create the lounge. It initially had an estimated cost of $60,000.

The initial funding to begin the Arts Lounge was provided by Quality Money, a U of C committee that allocates $1.6 million per year for programs and initiatives on campus.

“When the [new] faculty of arts was created, there was an opportunity there to create a meeting space for arts students and we jumped at it,” said St. Pierre. “One of the major issues with the arts faculty when it was created was that a lot of students didn’t feel like they were part of a faculty. The goal of the Arts Lounge was to create a space, an avenue, for arts students to get a greater feel for the great multidisciplinary aspect of the faculty of arts.”

St. Pierre said the Arts Lounge is 2.5 times larger than initially planned. The cost is currently estimated at $100,000.

Michael Grondin, October 25th, 2012