Cafe to open in fine arts building
Students have a chance to name and design the new cafe logo for the new Chase Fine Arts Center cafe. The chosen design wins an iPad 2, said Arts Senator Mary Jacobson.
“We wanted students to have a big part in the cafe,” Jacobson said.
The contest deadline is Oct. 15 and is open to all students. Jacobson said the name and logo should go together, and designs need to be high enough resolution to fit a 6-foot by 4-foot space or be shrunk to the size of a business card.
Jacobson encourages students to be creative. After all, it is in an arts building, she said.
The new cafe will be a place students can say they contribute to, from the student art exhibit to the chalkboard wall, said Lindsey Wiltshire, customer service manager for The Junction. Wiltshire said she will oversee customer service at the cafe, as well.
“This is going to be a place they can call their own,” she said, regarding students.
One of the walls is painted with chalkboard paint, so people can draw designs or write messages. Additionally, interior design students are designing the look of the cafe and will turn in ideas over the next two weeks.
Jacobson said she wants to include all departments from the Caine College of the Arts. She said she plans to host an open-mic night for theater and music students and hang students’ art on the cafe walls, as well.
Construction has been piecemeal, Wiltshire said. The cafe has been empty and dark over the last few weeks. Now, with an almost definite date set, construction is speeding up for a grand opening in November, she added.
It’s taken two years to get the cafe off the ground, she said. Because dining services does not own the building, it has taken other steps for funding and working with architects, in order to finalize plans. She said plans were around the renovation schedule for the offices directly behind the cafe.
The cafe is on the east side of the building, down the hallway and around the corner from the box office. Wiltshire said it was the natural place to build a cafe since it already functioned as a sort of break room, though it was mostly vacant.
“There was a torn-up pingpong table and some vending machines,” she said, “it wasn’t well utilized by anybody.”
Wiltshire said the cafe is bound to attract business with so many people going through the Chase Fine Arts Center.
Jacobson said she was happy about the opening, because arts students need a place in their building to grab food during the day.
“Arts students’ schedules are really demanding,” she said.
Early classes, rigorous rehearsal schedules and practices keep some people in the Fine Arts Building all day, with barely any time to run to the Quadside Cafe in the library, Jacobson said.
“You get to know the janitors really well because you are there all day,” she said.
Kelsey Hess, a choral education sophomore, said she will definitely take advantage of the cafe, because she spends most of her days in the building.
“There are times when I’m here for 10- or 11-hour days,” Hess said.
Music majors are not the only ones spending all day in the building, Hess said. It will benefit the entire college, she said.
“There’s always something to practice,” Hess said. “There’s always something you need to be doing. Which is good.”
Menu items will range from cafe beverages, to grab-and-go items like pre-made sandwiches and parfaits, to specialty sandwiches, pasta, pizza and Chicago-style hot dogs made to order, Wiltshire said.
– la.stewart@aggiemail.usu.edu