Birk Center for the Arts

Newly opened in January 2012, the Birk Center for the Arts is a project that has been thoughtfully and beautifully designed to encourage the creative talents and education of a wide range of artists. What began as a space to accommodate Walsh's growing music programs has evolved into a multi-functioning building that serves to attract new performing arts students and also help retain current students with an interest in musical and visual arts.

The 13,000 square-foot building, connected to the south end of the Cecchini Center, includes a visual art studio for drawing, painting and sculpture courses, as well as a spacious atrium to showcase art exhibits or serve as a dramatic backdrop for special campus events. The rehearsal hall and practice rooms in the building were designed with acoustics in mind, and specifically complement choral and instrumental instruction.

In addition to a music library, the building includes ample storage facilities for marching band instruments and uniforms for Walsh's marching band and choir members. The Birk Center for the Arts houses seven offices for the director and staff of Walsh's Fine & Performing Arts Department, as well as two classrooms.

The center will showcase community art and music programs as well. In the summertime, the new building will be used as a local site to host art camps for elementary, middle and high school students.

Giving Opportunities are still available for the Birk Center for the Arts.

For a complete list of giving opportunities, click here.

Home of the Cavalier Pride Band

The Walsh University Marching Band program is a musical organization dedicated to the principle of providing and enhancing spirit and pride through the gift of music. The Walsh University Marching Band will play at home football games and at various Walsh and community events. The band will perform contemporary and classic rock, jazz, Latin, and traditional band music. There will be new music and drill for every home game.

Home of the Walsh University Chorale and Chamber Singers

Walsh's Chorale is a growing organization in both size and reputation. The Chorale currently has about 80 student singers who showcase their talents with concerts both on and off campus. Most of their concerts are standing room only thanks to the guidance and direction they receive from Walsh's Director of Fine and Performing Arts Dr. Britt Cooper. The Walsh University Chamber Singers are a select group of 20 to 25 singers who serve primarily as a traveling ensemble singing mainly a cappella. The Chamber Singers have toured to Chicago, New York and are currently planning a tour of Rome.

We invite you to be part of this very important project by considering a gift. For more information about Walsh University's Center for the Arts, please contact Bridgette Neisel at (330) 490-7337 or DONATE ONLINE.

Dorothy Ling Rehearsal Hall Initiative

Bach. Beethoven. Vivaldi. Generations of alumni were introduced to these maestros by the irrepressible and irreplaceable Mrs. Dorothy Ling. She retired from the classrooms of Walsh University after nearly 35 years of service as an Assistant Professor of Music, but she will never retire from the hearts of those she taught.

Mrs. Ling attended Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia, majoring in piano. Merely one week after graduation, she met a young man from Taiwan named Tom Ling, the man who would become her husband. Together they would raise two sons, Steve and David.

After the couple married, they moved to Ohio where Tom accepted a graduate assistantship at Kent State University, and Dorothy taught music at an elementary school in Cuyahoga Falls. When Tom joined the faculty of Walsh, the campus was introduced to Dorothy, who, in 1969, joined the faculty herself.

For the next three and a half decades, Mrs. Ling labored to bring the music she loved to the students she loved. She addressed each student formally. Mr. Smith. Miss Jones, and she didn't forget their names, even years after they had left campus.

Led by the former students and colleagues she loved, the Dorothy Ling Initiative seeks to raise the funds necessary to name the Rehearsal Hall in the new Walsh University Center for the Arts in her honor. It is only fitting that this facility which will be filled with music, both instrumental and vocal, will be named for the woman who is a living symbol of music education on our campus. Please consider joining this effort and helping to establish the permanent legacy of Dorothy Ling at Walsh University.