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WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes University’s Sordoni Art Gallery, currently tucked into a piece of the much larger Stark Learning Center on Franklin Street, will get a new, roomier home on Main Street in the building that previously housed Bartikowsky Jewelers, Wilkes President Patrick Leahy announced today.

“I don’t believe that you can be a true university without an enduring commitment to art,” Leahy said in making the announcement.

The new location will increase available space by 25 percent compared to the current gallery, and will allow construction of more specialized space to draw larger national, and even international, exhibits to the gallery, Leahy said. The move is being done with help from consultant Stanley Grand, a former director of the Sordoni.

The university will also hire a new director with a background in art history who can both arrange for higher-quality exhibits to travel to the Sordoni and help develop academic programs around those exhibits. The university will begin the search for the new employee this fall and Leahy expects the hiring to be finalized next summer, with the salary likely to be “close to six figures.”

The plan also calls for substantial growth in the gallery’s current endowment of about $750,000, Leahy said, potentially developing a permanent endowment of several millions of dollars.

Part of the increased endowment likely will come from a winnowing of the current permanent exhibits, selling off some pieces, which would also increase room for exhibits brought in, Leahy said. The gallery has about 1,500 pieces, with the biggest monetary value in about 65 of them. Sotheby’s will help sell some of the collection at an anticipated gain of about $1.3 million.

Moving the gallery to a more prominent, roomier space and drawing higher-quality exhibits doesn’t mean upscale admission prices, Leahy added, saying the university’s goal is to keep the gallery as accessible as possible to the community. He anticipates a grand opening in fall 2016.

The plan has the blessing of Andrew J. Sordoni, II, whose family established it in 1973.

Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy, left, announces plans to move the Sordoni Art Gallery to Main Street in Wilkes-Barre by next fall.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_20150901_110800_resized.jpg.optimal.jpgWilkes University President Patrick Leahy, left, announces plans to move the Sordoni Art Gallery to Main Street in Wilkes-Barre by next fall.

By Mark Guydish

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Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish