Cary’s Cultural Arts Center Coming Soon

Posted by Lindsey Chester Arts, Community Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Cary, NC- As many residents may have noticed lately, the back of Old Cary Elementary School is blown out and a large steel tower is rising behind the building. Construction workers swarm the site daily.

A Visit with Lyman Collins

I met with Cultural Arts Director, Lyman Collins, and he helped fill in the blanks. He described a mission to “respond to the history of the building” as a given in the renovation.

Clearscapes, the  architectural firm,  made sure to include much of the building’s “Legacy of Education” in this center piece to the Downtown Cary revitalization. Construction started with the official groundbreaking (see CaryCitizen Jan 24th), and proceeds on schedule for the Cary Cultural Arts Center to open Spring of 2011, coming in $6 million below what the Town originally budgeted for the project (thanks in part to the recession hungry contracting field).

Many people may ask, “what is going to be in that building, and do we really need it?” The answer is an amazing array of art classrooms rehearsal space, gallery space and more.

And, yes, we need it. Have you ever tried to sign up your child for an art class and gotten shut out? Then you will be happy to know there will be increased class space in the new building.

In fact all of Jordan Hall (the current site of town arts classes), would fit nicely inside this new building’s dedicated ceramic arts classrooms – the size of one wing on one floor.

Details of What’s To Come

The Lobby:

Visitors will encounter the most drastic change to Cary Elementary on the main floor with its spacious lobby.

The space reaches up to the third floor and down below to the main floor through use of an art wall holding the open stairway.  The wall combines form and function in a unique way.

The artist team of Norie Sato from Seattle, and Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishi of Chapel Hill used replicas of photos taken from the town’s archives which are integrated into this wall and others, including the concession area. The staircase wall will extend from the lower level through to the third floor.

Off the lobby, will be a permanent dedicated gallery space larger than the current Page Walker gallery space and able to accommodate sculptures on podiums. Another classroom space with a glass wall can serve as overflow lobby or artist-in-residence space. There will also be a welcoming concession area with it’s own unique art wall.

The Lower Level:

In the original building this was a hodge-podge of unconnected spaces. The renovation will unify the area into  a “U” shaped hallway. One wing will house  the Ceramics area including: an adult classroom, children’s classroom, open studio space and a kiln area. The wood shop area and costume shop will be on the other wing, as well as dressing rooms and a green room near the stage area.

Other new areas:

The original building held about 13 classrooms total. With the addition/ renovation,  the lower level will house 4 specialty classrooms (woodworking, fabric, ceramics — adult and youth); the main level holds  3 classrooms plus a large multipurpose/rehearsal room and the theater; and the upper level has 5 classrooms plus another multipurpose/rehearsal room with a higher ceiling and dance flooring installed as well as a conference room.

The auditorium floor is becoming sloped and 399 seats are being installed. The back of the building, which currently is busted wide open, will get the addition of a fly tower. Where you now see steel girders rising from the ground, will soon be a large addition to the back of the building. This will allow sets to be built and housed on site. Back drops will be able to move up and down on pulleys.

Also new will be flexible office space to be used by the various organizations that will be using the building. Now they will have a central location to house files and hold meetings.

Potential Job Creation

Another bonus of this renovation is may be some  job creation, besides the obvious builders and contractors. The town will hire a technician to handle the technical aspects of the fly tower and staging area, and 2 customer service staff. All the current employees at Jordan Hall will move over to the new Arts Center. And additional folks will be needed to fill teaching positions for the new expanded course offerings.

I can’t wait until this building is completed.  When this cornerstone of downtown Cary is complete, there will be a lot of excitement downtown. Classrooms in the day and evening, musical and dance performances in the evenings, a great central location to start the Final Friday Art Loop and more.

Look for more information as it becomes available.

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