Fundraising underway for PAC expansion

Hannah Koeller

Campus and community leaders are working to fulfill SDSUs vision for a stateoftheart
Performing Arts Center.

The $43-million expansion would include a full-scale, 850-seat theater, large rehearsal
spaces for band, orchestra and choir and a recital hall for ensemble and solo
performances with a professional-grade pipe organ, according to Dennis Papini.

The new facility is needed so that we can meet accreditation standards and get all
three of those programs either reaccredited, in the case of music, or accredited, in the
case of theater and dance Papini, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, said.

Phase II of the Performing Arts Center would expand the building by 100,000 square
feet and consolidate the Music, Theatre and Dance departments into one building.

Even though I think we have the best curriculum and the best faculty in the state, we
dont draw as many students here as we should because they see our facilities and they
go No, thank you, Papini said. Once we have these facilities, I think you will see an
explosion in the arts, and the impact will be across the university.

Phase I of the current facility constructed a 65,000-square-foot building that costed

$10.2 million in 2003. However, the fine arts continue to use Doner Auditorium, Lincoln
Music Hall and Pugsley Hall Christy Ballroom for performances, rehearsals and storage.

J.D. Ackman, director and professor of theatre, said a new theater would be a better
environment for patrons and a better teaching and learning environment for students.

The PAC expansion would benefit everyone... Ackman said. There will be all kinds of
events possible that arent possible now.

This includes high school events like all-state band and jazz band, one-act play, show
choir competitions and debate and speech tournaments.

Updating the current facilities would allow for students to work in a higher quality
performance venue, which ultimately makes them more competitive as graduates,
Ackman said.

Vocalist and Pride of the Dakotas member Caleb Finck said that, from a student
perspective, the benefits would extend beyond campus, to high school students and
community members. It will also give SDSU students more opportunities to develop
their skills.

Its going to provide topnotch performing space and learning space for all the theater
students, the dance students, the music students, Finck said. Once this thing is done,
itll be the best facility we have around here...

With the expansion, an increase in enrollment of 25 theater majors and 15 music majors
is estimated.

In Brookings, the PAC expansion would provide cultural and economic benefits for the
community, Ackman said.

The National Endowment for the Arts has identified something called the multiplier
effect, Ackman said. The accepted multiplier figure is 1.78, and that means for every
dollar spent on the performing arts, $1.78 will continue to circulate through the
community.

The facility will help brand Brookings as a place to locate. The vibrant arts community
will bring people to town, help business and industry and attract and recruit high
performing employees, Papini said.

This project will become possible with significant contributions from students and private
individuals, according to the website dedicated to this expansion.

Students will contribute $13 million in the form of a board-approved Higher Education
Fee (HEF). Papini said twenty cents of every $1 in tuition goes into the HEF fund, which
will be used for building maintenance and repair in new capital construction.

An estimated $26.9 million will come from private donations. Papini said private
fundraising is quickly approaching this amount, which is needed to start the project.

We expect by the first of the year we will have the fundraising needed to start
construction, Papini said.

He expects the City of Brookings might contribute around $6 million, which is about the
same amount given for the current performing arts facility in 2003.

Ackman said people should support this project for the significant economic
contributions and the clear cultural and artistic benefits for the campus and community.
We want to become a Division I performing arts school, Ackman said. Ultimately, it
makes SDSU and Brookings a better place to be. We have to help people to see that it
absolutely has a positive effect.

Following the expansion, SDSU would not demolish Lincoln Hall, current home of the
Department of Music, but find a new use for it.

Doner Auditorium, which was built in 1913 and wasnt designed as a performance
venue, might be turned into an executive seminar room, with the stage converted to a
presentation area, theatre chairs removed and executive workstations installed,
according to Papini.

If funding for this project is in place by first of the year, the next phase of the PAC
expansion will be turning plans into blueprints and starting construction late next
summer, with a possible opening in the fall of 2018.