High school could be home for performing arts

Glacier Performing Arts Center and School District 5 could be making sweet music together in a few more years.

Kalispell school trustees and officers of the performing arts board came to a meeting of the minds in a hastily called school board session Tuesday night when a straw vote showed unanimous support for incorporating the long-proposed Glacier Performing Arts Center into the new Glacier High School.

But that moral support must be backed by private financial support ranging from $11.1 million to $15.3 million, which must be promised by the middle of July.

The partnership which started stewing when art center supporters first broached the subject with the school on June 13 could amplify arts education for the high school and provide a university-quality performance hall for the Flathead.

I m very excited about the opportunities for students, Flathead High choir director Kevin

Allen-Schmid said as he listened in on Tuesday s discussion.

We have a long working relationship with Glacier Symphony and Chorale & I m sure they would consider it their home. And we like to think we are educating students for life, Allen-Schmid said, ultimately channeling many of those students into using the performance center as adults.

The arts center board proposes a 1,300-seat performance hall and 250- to 300-seat flat-floor theater, with amenities suitable for traveling Broadway productions, Glacier Symphony and Chorale performances, and rock concerts, as well as intimate evenings of acoustic guitar, poetry readings or black-box theater productions.

Even though the performing arts board and high school building committee members have put in long hours working with CTA Architects to craft this proposal over the past week to dovetail with tight high school construction deadlines, the critical work is just beginning.

As of today, Performing Arts Board President Jean Hagan and her steering committee must rustle up anywhere from $11.1 million to $15.3 million in promises from private donors willing to guarantee the project will come to life.

That money would be added to the $2.5 million the school already has budgeted for an auditorium and theater area in the new high school.

To avoid costly construction delays in the school s planned 2007 opening, those private promissory notes must be in hand within the next three weeks. Geo-piers will be sunk deep into the soil to support the finished weight of the high school building, probably in mid-July. Ground-breaking at the school is this week.

Although visual arts, music and theater portions must open with the school in August 2007, the performance hall and lobby probably would not open for another nine or 10 months after that.

Initially, the Glacier Performing Arts Center board floated two proposals.

The first was to build a $21 million stand-alone facility, possibly on the Flathead Valley Community College campus.

But, in a Monday afternoon meeting, they opted instead to throw their support behind the shared facility with Glacier High School, which had drawn interest from the school over the past week. At $225 a square foot, cost could be $13.6 million, $15 million or $17.8 million, depending on square footage and features included.

The arts center, bound to bring high traffic volume to the school for special events, would pay to add a section of parking and finish a road the school had planned to leave incomplete until money became available in the future.

Trustees questioned whether the school would have complete use of the facility, who retains ownership and what happens if something sours between the two parties over the years. Still, several expressed optimism for the project.

Likewise, several Flathead High School department heads voiced concerns from scheduling needs to classroom placement but each saw potential in the plan.

I m really excited about this, Trustee Chairman Don Murray said. I think this is an incredible opportunity for the school.

It s easy to identify obstacles, but there s only one that can t be overcome. That s the funding & (Donors) have to make a major commitment very soon, he added.

But if it comes through, suddenly the high school is a more integrated part of the entire valley, Murray said. And this could help gain the support of the community.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com