“In an educational situation, if you’re not teaching students

in state-of-the-art equipment and technology,

they’re not very marketable.” 

Joan Stadsklev, Performing Arts Director of Chipola College

 

Prominently located at the entrance to the college, the Center for the Arts has become the new “front door” of Chipola College’s campus.  With about 10,000 annual visitors for theater productions, artist series events, and performances for 6,000 area school children, the facility is fulfilling the dreams and cultural needs of its students, local residents, visitors, and community organizations. 

 

The Center includes a 655-seat performance theater with a fly loft and orchestra pit, a 150-seat experimental “black box” theater for intimate works, cutting edge programs, and recitals, an art gallery, a spacious green room, four dressing rooms to handle between 40 and 60 performers, a dance studio, costume shop, and a two-story set design workshop.  The lobby functions as a central gathering space for the performance venues, as well as a place for social and fundraising functions. 

 

The multi-purpose proscenium theater is equipped with state-of-the-art systems for sound, rigging, and lighting to handle professional shows of all types. The differing acoustical requirements for performance spaces, rehearsal spaces, and instructional spaces were a key factor in the design, especially with limited room volume and a limited budget. Although it hosts visiting stars and touring companies, the primary focus of the Center remains its students.  Constance Smith, Director of Technical Theater, says, “We really give them something they can work with in the real world and use the rest of their lives.”