The Hendricks Center for the Arts will be sold to an affiliate of billionaire Diane Hendricks — who originally gifted the building to Beloit College* — displacing departments in the School of Media and the Arts (abbreviated as SoMA). Departments will be moved starting in fall 2027; when the sale will take place is undetermined.
*The print edition mentioned Hendricks Holding Company, but this information is innacurate. All we know so far is that the building will be sold to some affiliate of Hendricks.
While the details of the deal and plans for the building are still in development, the college has plans for spaces for SoMA students.
For one, the Neese Theater, a largely unused space which has not been the site of a performance since 2024, will be partially renovated before fall 2027. The partial renovations will include the Kresge and Bungee black box theaters, some bathrooms, as well as office, class, and storage spaces. The theater itself will not be included in the first round of renovations. “There are lots of other players involved that are checking on what its viability is and how much it will cost,” said Gina T’ai, director of the School of Media and the Arts.
Throughout the interview with The Round Table, T’ai consulted an internal communication she received from the president’s office. The communication shared the college’s vision for the renovations.
“The college has a longer-term vision for a full renovation of the Neese Theater,” T’ai said, quoting the communication. “The vision involves looking outward into the community and partnering with other civic and community organizations. The result will be a modernized theater hub with benefits to the wider community and the college.” T’ai said the modernized theater hub would come eventually, but said they did not have a timeline.
Theatre and dance — both belonging to the Performing and Applied Arts department — will move back to the Neese Theater, the Media Studies department will move into the library, and music-related courses and events will tentatively move to more residential areas, like Chapin and 609 Emerson Hall. The idea to move music to the residential side of campus is so “students can have lessons and practice sessions on the residential side of campus,” T’ai said. “In terms of larger class spaces where the choir meets, I don’t have an answer for that yet.” The Center for Entrepreneurship (abbreviated as CELEB) will still operate as another space for SoMA.
There are also plans for Mayer Hall to be the home for the School of Media and the Arts. According to T’ai, the college is beginning fundraising for this project and no renovation can begin until the fundraising goal is met. “Mayer Hall is underutilized and is a space that needs modernization to be open for wider use,” T’ai said.
“What I can say is [the Hendricks Center has] been a really supportive and wonderful space for us for a long time,” T’ai said. “It was a really great space for us for a really long time. And the collaborations that happened between dance students and music students because we were all in the same space was really wonderful.”
This is an ongoing story. If there are any innacurate details or corrections to be made, please email roundtable@beloit.edu, or submit a letter to the editors.
Featured image: Sonya Edwards’28, Ivy-Salmi Perry’28 – Chelonia 2026.
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