Space for arts at Geneva High School
"Music in the Alleys." "Shakespeare in the Park." Plein-air painting demonstrations. A movie screened in a riverside park.
It's all nice, when the weather is balmy.
"But when the weather turns cold, we pretty much don't have a lot of activity," said Tim Vetang, chairman of the City of Geneva's Cultural Arts Commission, which arranged the aforementioned events. That's because Geneva doesn't have any large commercial theatrical space, or a public gallery.
So the commission is very interested in plans the Geneva school district is developing for a new auditorium as part of a renovation and expansion of Geneva High. And why the school district asked the commission to join the planning effort.
Wednesday night, in the second such commission meeting devoted to the project, architects, an acoustics expert and a designer updated the commission, school district officials and several school board members on technical aspects of the plan.
Chief among commissioners' concerns were that any new auditorium be able to handle a variety of programming, whether it be lectures, concerts or plays.
Commissioners asked about the flexibility of changing acoustical features - a lecturer needs a "dry" hall, with less reverberation, than a choir or band concert, for instance. They also had thoughts about the placement of a ticket booth/concession stand, and questioned the color chosen for walls where art show works could be displayed.
The school district has been drawing up plans for more than a year, as a part of its 2006 master facility plan. High school expansion is in the second phase of that plan. The first phase, approved by voters in the spring of 2007, called for remodeling at several elementary schools and construction of two new elementary schools.
The arts commission has not discussed whether to take an official position on urging voters to support a high school expansion in any future referendum, Vetang said.
"I would hope we would. There's obvious benefit to the community," said Vetang, noting that people who attend their events may also dine at Geneva restaurants, shop in Geneva stores and sleep in Geneva hotels on their trips. "We bring groups to Geneva."
The present GHS auditorium seats about 500. As enrollment at the school has increased, it's no longer big enough to have all students from one class seated in there for an assembly.
The Geneva school board is going to receive an update on the 2006 master facility plan at a special board meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 3. At its regular meeting Nov. 10, it intends to discuss the high school plans. Both are scheduled to take place at the district headquarters, 227 N. Fourth St.