Since the university announced plans to build a Fine Arts Center, not everything has gone according to plan.
Over the summer, ETSU learned that their original plans for the ETSU Fine Arts Center were over budget. To the disappointment of many, certain aspects including space for art and design, bluegrass and aerial dance were cut from the plans. The university also had to wait to see if the city was going to approve the project as well as contribute any funding for it.
“The city ending up contributing $8 million to the project,” said Bill Rasnick, the associate vice president of facilities management, planning and construction. “We got to a point in the design where it really didn’t make any sense to go any further till we knew whether the city was in or out. That’s the reason for the pause.”
Since then, designers McCarthy, Holsaple and McCarthy have presented an updated design with an attached groundbreaking date of August 2017 in the lot next to Millennium Centre across the street from ETSU’s main campus.
According to the plans posted on the facilities website on Sept. 13, the center will have a 1200 seat auditorium, a studio theater, recital hall, a scene shop, costume shop, dressing rooms, rehearsal space for choral, percussion and instrumental and storage space for instruments, lighting, sound equipment and costumes. Office space for theater, dance and music is also included in the building.
The total budget for the project is at $52.3 million and if construction begins next August, the center is expected to be completed by June 2019.
