Penn’s student performing arts organizations are coming closer to a new home in Stouffer College House.

Work is now under way on a new performing arts hub in the former Stouffer basement dining hall. When it opens in August 2004, the facility will offer much-needed rehearsal and meeting space for the Performing Arts Council’s 43 member groups.

“The biggest thing the new hub offers is appropriate facilities for many of the groups that are now practicing in inappropriate spaces,” said Performing Arts Coordinator Ty Furman.

The hub will also include a library stocked with information about career opportunities in the performing arts and information on Philadelphia-area performance organizations. Performing arts groups can use computers in the facility for tasks like set design, music arrangement and desktop publishing.

The hub will also allow closer coordination with Penn’s academic performance programs.