PVCC Puma Press: December 2004

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	Photos by Irene Harkleroad
	PAC structure viewed from Southwest corner. Two views show the progress being made in the building process.
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As the PVCC Performing Arts Center rises from the valley floor, expectations in the fine arts community rise with it.

Construction of the 26,000-sq.-ft. PAC is on target. Due to open in October 2005, final completion for the PAC is scheduled for June 8. The facility will house a 300-seat state-of-the-art theater complex, complete with professional scene and costume shops, green rooms, dressing rooms, a music rehearsal room with a built-in recording studio, an electronic music/fine arts computer lab, a 1,000-sq.-ft. lobby/art gallery, music classrooms and concession.

The project has not been without controversy.

Funding was a major issue since its inception. Ground was broken on March 12, 2004, five years after initial planning. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were trimmed from the costs in October 2003 by eliminating a curtain galley (which lowered the height of the building by 50 feet), a fly floor on the stage, a 200-seat outdoor amphitheater and various landscape features.

The Fine Arts faculty envisions a bright future for the performing arts. “The PAC was created as a lab,” says Dr. Chris Scinto, division chair of Fine and Performing Arts. “It will enrich the cultural opportunities for the students and community at large. It will shift the kind, quality and number of events we offer. The center will add five additional performing spaces.”

The PAC will be used for a full range of performing and visual arts: The Fine Arts gallery will host rotating exhibits and performing spaces will accommodate rehearsals, concerts, plays, speakers, recitals and classes.

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‘(The PAC) will enrich the cultural opportunities for the students, the community at large.’
—Dr. Christopher Scinto
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Scinto says completion of the recording studio in the PAC will lead to Associate’s degree programs for audio technicians and those interested in the business of music.

According to Dave Freeland, project superintendent, the following portions of the project have been completed during the Fall 2004 semester:

• Overhead fire protection in scene shop;

• Concrete placed on roof, mezzanine and stairs of scene shop, electric room and approach slabs of the audience chamber;

• Fireproofing at stage and basement;

• Masonry at audience chamber and north lobby;

• Slab on grade in audience chamber, music room and lobby;

• Electrical feeders pulled from M building to new transformer;

• Electric connected between M building and PAC;

• Foam roofing.

The shape of the building has changed weekly since September. Recently, stacks of lumber and brick on the lot were replaced by ductwork as portions of the exterior masonry were completed and interior work progressed. Metal framing disappears behind brick as curved walls emerge.

Alan Tongret, Theatre/Humanities faculty, wrote the specs for the PAC and watches as an empty metal shell develops into a recognizable structure, provoking thoughts of opening nights and robust performances. As the deadline approaches, construction workers and artists alike will prepare for the initial production of Tongret’s play, “The World Aflame.”