Nancye Starnes, a lifelong supporter of the arts, has made a $4.5 million gift toward the University of Mississippi's plans for a new scene shop, rehearsal space and an on-campus recording studio. The donor hopes the lead gift toward the university's arts facilities plan will inspire others to join her in supporting a robust arts program. Photo by Bill Dabney/UM Foundation
Donor Nancye Starnes makes lead gift for construction of three arts facilities
by Tina H. Hahn
Nancye Starnes, a lifelong supporter of the arts, has made a $4.5 million gift to help the University of Mississippi bring plans for a new scene shop, rehearsal space and music recording studio to life. Starnes, of Daniel Island, South Carolina, hopes the lead gift toward the university’s arts facilities plan will inspire others to join her in supporting a robust arts program.
“Can you imagine a life without theater, without music, without dance?” Starnes asked. “Where’s the rhythm of life if you don’t have all of that? You may not need the arts to survive, but you do need the arts to thrive.
“The arts are not just something that happen on Saturday nights; they are with us every day, all day long.”
The university’s plans call for a recording studio and space for the UM Institute for the Arts to be constructed in the music building. It also proposes a scene shop and rehearsal studio for the Department of Theatre and Film. Starnes’ donation will be added to the $25 million the university has committed to the projects. Additional funds must be raised to complete the projects, estimated at $33 million.
“We are grateful to Nancye Starnes,” Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. “She is helping us take the performing arts to an exceptional level, giving our students and the Oxford community priceless arts experiences.”
A new recording studio will enable the Department of Music to expand opportunities into the music industry. It would also give the university a working record label to release its own projects.
“The recording studio will attract students who are interested in careers in the recording industry, enable the addition of contemporary courses and experiences for current students, and connect the university to industry in an innovative manner,” said Nancy Maria Balach, chair and professor of music.
The new space will allow ensembles and solo performers to record live, studio-quality projects, she said. Music students and faculty will have priority, but the studio will be available to the campus community. Professional recording artists will also be allowed to rent the space. A new scene shop will have 22-foot ceilings, which will allow for taller scenery and a gantry crane to move items around. The 8-foot ceilings in the basement of Fulton Chapel, where scenery has been built for years, don’t allow this.
Sets could be built over several weeks and then moved to the Ford Center, Fulton Chapel and Meek Auditorium just in time for productions instead of taking those venues off-line for weeks while sets are built on-site. The shop will also include prop and maker spaces and a 3D printer. Plans also call for a rehearsal hall as large as the Ford Center stage. It will include space for instructors to observe and critique and plans for future dressing rooms and a make-up instruction classroom.
“They will help us recruit top talent and provide exceptional experiences and preparation for career success,” said Michael Barnett, chair of the Department of Theatre and Film and professor of lighting design. “Our students will enter the workforce having worked in professional-level facilities and high-quality productions.
“Nancye Starnes has already transformed our film studios and costume shop and elevated our program to compete with top schools. She is helping us realize our vision for all the performing arts.”
Starnes began contributing major support to the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts in 2006 and recently expanded her support to the departments of Theatre and Film and Music. As Barnett noted, her support helped build a costume shop and finish the film studio at the South Oxford Campus, formerly home to Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi.
“Seeing these facilities gives me a real sense of pride that I had something to do with their development,” said Starnes, who earned her secondary education degree from Ole Miss in 1970. “I enjoy seeing the students mastering their crafts, pursuing something they are interested in and learning to do it well.
“The students are making real contributions to their lives and ours.”
Starnes recalled her first influence in developing her love for the arts: her country doctor grandfather in North Carolina, where she spent every summer. He would give rides to children whose parents didn’t attend church. The children would all sing “Jesus Loves Me” and other hymns as he conducted a “car choir” while driving, she recalled.
“I can still picture his hands as he waved them,” Starnes said. “It was pure joy to him, the absolute pleasure of seeing their faces, and it was easy to fall in love with that. To me—theater, film, music, dance, all of it—has that same transformative impact.”
To make a gift to the Nancye Starnes Arts Facilities Fund, send a check with the fund noted in the memo line to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655, or give online here. For more information, contact Charlotte Parks, vice chancellor for development, at cpparks@olemiss.edu or 662-915-3120.
