Cornell Housing and Residential Life announced that the Risley Theater and Shops will remain closed for the remainder of the spring semester and entire 2026-2027 academic year, in a March 2 email to Risley residents. The Sun spoke to performance and visual arts student groups, who said they want greater transparency and guidance from the University on how to move forward.
The theater and workshop spaces, located in the basement of Risley Hall, closed for the Fall 2025 semester as a result of an ongoing health and safety evaluation. The spaces will be closed for the 2026-2027 academic year “to address previously unknown infrastructure challenges,” HRL wrote in a statement to The Sun.
“As previously shared in our December update to residents, the Shops and Theatre remain under evaluation,” HRL’s March 2 email to Risley residents stated. “An external consultant has conducted a comprehensive evaluation of these areas, and Housing and Residential Life, Environmental, Health and Safety, and Student and Campus Life Facilities are working diligently to move forward with next steps for the Shops and Theatre.”
A Center for the Arts
The Risley Theater, which first opened in 1974, has served as a performing space for student organizations like the Cog Dog Theatre Troupe, The Whistling Shrimp and Midnight Comedy.
Risley Theatre, a theatrical production company and student-run theatrical management organization, assembles the programming hosted within Risley.
In addition to a large stage and 81-person audience seating area, the theater includes a backstage space, side entrances, technical booth and adaptable sound and lighting systems, according to Risley Theatre’s website.
For David Gilmore ’28, president of Cog Dog Theatre Troupe, the Risley Theater “strikes a really good balance” for performance groups because it has “enough theatrical equipment that you can put on a show, but not too much that it's super confusing.”
While there are other performing arts spaces on campus, like The Schwartz Center or Cornell Cinema’s Theatre in Willard Straight Hall, the Risley Theater is an accessible option for student organizations. Student productions can reserve the theater space for multiple nights in a row at relatively low fees, according to Gilmore.
Risley’s intimate design also allows for a more engaging performing experience.
“It was a space of community,” Gilmore said. “You can get right up in the audience’s face if you want … you just get so much energy from the audience.”
The Shops refers to the collection of 11 fine arts workshops housed in the Risley basement. The space includes a pottery shop, sewing shop and darkroom, among other facilities. The Shops are open for Cornell students to use during open hours at a semesterly fee.
For Sydney Trunnell ’28, Risley Ministry for Arts and Shops Development secretary and co-head manager of the pottery shop, The Shops filled a need on campus in offering fine arts opportunities for students.
“This was a space where you could see people come after a crazy day and make something cool,” Trunnell said. “I can’t even tell you the number of times I watched someone walk into the pottery studio in the spring and be like, ‘Oh my God, here it is. I was looking for it this whole time.’”
Trunnell also believes that the workshops make involvement in the arts accessible on campus.
“One of the things that we pride ourselves [in] is that you pay a one time flat semesterly fee … and you have unlimited access to our materials, which is so useful for people who are just trying to start,” Trunnell said.
Unexpected Closure Announcement
Despite experiencing a drop in attendance and outreach after the pandemic, according to Trunnell, RMASD recently saw an increase in participation in workshops last year. However, after the closure of The Shops for an EHS investigation in August, progress halted.
“We were told basically the day before classes started [that The Shops were closed], which was pretty awful, because I basically spent my entire summer thinking about things I could do to make the shop more accessible to students … and programs I could put on,” Trunnell said.
Initially, student artists like Trunnell thought that it would just be a routine inspection by EHS. EHS conducted safety walkthroughs in November 2024 and January 2025 and no follow-up meetings occurred afterwards, according to documentation provided by RMASD.
“I didn't imagine when they first told us that they were going to be reviewing The Shops, that it would turn into this,” Trunnell said. “In my wildest dreams, I did not imagine the two year full Shop[s] closure.”
“Starved for Information”
“Details about the closure have been shared regularly in the fall and spring semesters through messages from Housing and Residential Life to all Risley Hall residents, including the resident students who are part of the Risley Ministry for Arts and Shops Development (RMASD) and Risley Theatre T-Sub,” wrote HRL in an email statement to The Sun.
While general announcements were provided, student organizations were not informed what concern prompted the ongoing investigation, according to Gilmore.
“We don't know [what the issue is] … and the people who we have talked to in administration don’t know because we’re dealing with just so many leaps in communication here,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore also serves on Risley's Hall Council T-Sub, the board of the organization that manages all aspects of Risley Theatre. The unexpected closure announcement made the logistics of planning shows and coordinating between performance groups very challenging.
“We had Cog Dog asking to do shows in there. We had Whistling Shrimp asking to do shows in there. We had Shakespeare asking to do shows in there,” Gilmore said. “Given that they said that it’s closed, we immediately went to everyone and said, ‘Hey, we’re so sorry, but y’all need to find somewhere else to put this on in case we're not able to reopen.’”
Members of T-Sub have reached out to administrators and HRL regarding the status of the Risley evaluation since January, Gilmore said. However, few updates have been provided, leaving members like Gilmore “starved for information.”
RMASD faced similar communication issues with HRL and administration, Trunnell said, citing that these organizations have been “very non-transparent” regarding the ongoing investigation. Even after providing documentation of prior EHS walkthroughs and attempting to schedule meetings with the University, she said student leaders have been left in the dark regarding the issues trying to be addressed by EHS.
“These are really well maintained and loved spaces, and [EHS has] been in them routinely over the last five years,” Trunnell said. “We keep asking and trying to get student representation at meetings where they’re talking to EHS.”
Student leaders are looking for an opportunity to communicate with the University and be a part of the discussion.
“It's just disheartening all around,” Gilmore said. “We're not asking for miracles, right? If it needs to be closed for all of next year for repairs, tell us … instead of stringing us along.”
Looking Forward
HRL is encouraging students to “take advantage of other creative spaces on campus which can provide similar resources,” according to an email statement to The Sun.
Performance groups like the Cog Dog Theatre Troupe, have moved to finding other spaces on campus to perform, including the Rockefeller auditorium and Durland Alternatives Library in Anabel Taylor Hall. However, these alternative spaces come with their own set of challenges, according to Gilmore.
“It's not a dedicated theater space,” Gilmore said. “It’s really difficult to tell the building people, ‘Can we build a set in here? And these lights, can we rig them differently?’”
For the visual arts, RMSAD has been struggling to find large spaces that offer a similar set of specialized trades, like pottery and jewelry making.
“We can’t adapt pottery to any other space on campus,” Trunnell said. “You need to do a lot of work to get a specialized space for this kind of art, and we just don't have any other options.”
Both Trunnell and Gilmore hope to see more specific action from the University in regards to supporting student involvement in the arts amidst the closure.
“Talk to us,” Gilmore said, referring to the administration. “We're here. We have ideas. … We really do want to work with you, because we want to find a way to reopen this.”
Teju Vijay is a member of the Class of 2029 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a contributor for the News department and can be reached at tv95@cornell.edu.
