Rowan University’s College of the Arts marked a major milestone on Tuesday, hosting an official ribbon-cutting ceremony in Philadelphia to celebrate the new home of its distinctive Ph.D. in Creativity at the Village of Industry & Art (VIA)—formerly known as UArts’ historic Hamilton Hall on S. Broad Street.
The festive event also commemorated the ongoing success and preservation of the Pig Iron MFA in Devised Performance, another unique graduate program that Rowan successfully rescued following the abrupt closure of the University of the Arts (UArts) in June 2024.
When UArts shuttered its doors, students in these highly specialized, one-of-a-kind programs faced an uncertain future with nowhere to transfer. Through intervention by Rowan University leadership and program partners, both the Ph.D. in Creativity and the Pig Iron MFA were rescued and restored with only a single semester of disruption.
“Given the choice, I wish that the University of the Arts was still here,” Rick Dammers, dean of the College of the Arts, said. “But unfortunately, that is not the reality in which we find ourselves. We quickly found that these programs, where learners are encouraged to forge their own path and push the limits, were a natural fit for Rowan University.”
A historic home and expanding Philadelphia footprint
The Ph.D. in Creativity—Rowan’s first humanities doctoral program—now anchors itself at VIA, a building redeveloped by urban design firm Scout in 2025. Meanwhile, the MFA in Devised Performance continues operating out of its original studio space in Old Kensington while exploring future artist housing residencies within VIA.
Everett Abitbol, director of development at Scout, praised the partnership, emphasizing the cultural importance of the space. “I think what resonates the most in our partnership with Rowan is that there’s a shared belief here that the arts are infrastructure for our city, and investing in the arts is so critical to how we all experience Philadelphia,” Abitbol said.
For students and faculty, the gathering carried deep emotional resonance. Frank Machos, a member of the Ph.D. program’s inaugural cohort and deputy chief for the arts and creative learning at the School District of Philadelphia, noted the symbolic triumph of reopening the historic creative doors.
“It’s really important that we understand what this symbolically does,” Machos said. “We’ve missed all of the arts and culture and creativity that closing these buildings left behind. I can’t thank everybody in this room enough for bringing it back.”
Quinn Bauriedel, program director of the MFA in Devised Performance and co-founder of Pig Iron Theater Company, echoed that sentiment, calling the programs’ rapid recovery “an absolute miracle” born of collective collaboration.
Dr. Voki Pophristic, Rowan’s provost, highlighted how the programs align with the university’s core educational philosophy.
“The Ph.D. in Creativity and MFA in Devised Performance offer a place for creative leaders to ask big questions and look at them from entirely new angles,” Pophristic said. “Each program demands rigor, commitment, a little or a lot of playfulness, and a deep well of curiosity.”
