But those plans were met with disagreement by members of the East Lansing Arts Commission, who voiced their concern over MSU having that extent of control over one of the only East Lansing performance art galleries, East Lansing city councilmember Ruth Beier said.

"It has evolved to (where) MSU is going to come in and run a program there and they've committed to have community involvement and community input," Beier said. "It's going to be a trial, kind of, to see if it works. And if it does, then maybe the city would do something more permanent. And if it doesn't, then it'll revert back to a city space."

Currently, the city subsidizes (SCENE) Metrospace. According to an earlier East Lansing statement, if the space was leased to MSU, the city would save roughly $15,000 on rent and administration fees the university would pay, while the city would cover utilities, which cost roughly $4,000 a year.

City manager George Lahanas, who has voiced his support for MSU running (SCENE) Metrospace, said he believes the art space is vital to the East Lansing community.

“I think it serves the purpose of being able to have an art offering in the downtown that attracts a different kind of folk,” Lahanas said. “The art department would get to use (it) for community outreach and East Lansing would get the benefit of having (MSU) programming the space and hopefully continue to make it a very attractive place for residents to come and visit in the downtown.”

Department chair Chris Corneal spoke on the subject at the April 14 City Council work session and discussed the university's hopes for the East Lansing extension.

“We’re very excited to get art out into the world,” Corneal said. “This space would give us opportunities we don’t have on campus and offer more inclusive programming.”

At the May 26 City Council work session, the council voted unanimously to further discuss the idea at the next meeting, which will take place on June 2.