One last look inside: FSCC board views new arts center before opening

Trustees, from left, Curt Shankel, Jim Sather, Fort Scott Community College President Clayton Tatro, and trustee Eric Ammons discuss the Fort Scott Community College Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center's incomplete auditorium and performing arts hall. The FSCC Board of Trustees receives a final look Monday inside the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center before the facility's grand opening next month. -- Jason Silvers/Tribune Photo

By Jason E. Silvers

The Fort Scott Tribune

he Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees received two special treats on Monday.

FSCC staff members Allison Olin (left) and Nathan Magee perform as "Sonny and Cher" on Monday during a skit attended by the FSCC Board of Trustees and other college staff. Magee and Olin are part of a campaign committee at the college that is trying to raise funds for an electronic sign and billboard that would be built on the FSCC campus. Other FSCC personnel performed as backup dancers during the skit. -- Jason Silvers/Tribune Photo

During their regular meeting, trustees were able to take one final tour of the nearly-completed 44,000-square-foot Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center, which is scheduled to be finished and opened next month. The facility is slated to be closed down to the public this week while construction crews finish work on the interior of the center before it's projected mid-March opening, FSCC President Clayton Tatro said.

The facility's theater and performing arts area, as well as several fine arts classrooms, meeting rooms, and office space are nearly complete. FSCC officials are scheduled to take possession of the center March 26, while a dedication ceremony for the facility is tentatively planned for April. A ceremony honoring all of the building's donors is planned for an undetermined later date, FSCC officials said.

The fine arts center is being financed through private donations to the FSCC Endowment Association and state-approved industrial revenue bonds that the Endowment Association plans to repay over a 15-year period. The association has collected more than $6 million in pledges and donations through its capital campaign and various fundraisers the last five years. FSCC donated $1.5 million toward construction of the center.

The center, named for local philanthropists Danny and Willa Ellis who donated $1 million to the center in 2006, will contain several speech, theater, music and art classrooms and studios, offices, dressing rooms and community meeting rooms, a performing arts hall and 600-seat auditorium for campus and community theatre and music productions, an academic hall, an art gallery and exhibition space, an atrium, and the Gordon Parks Center for Culture and Diversity. The facility will also be open to the public for a variety of programs, workshops and speakers.

Trustees on Monday also heard about a recent fundraiser that several FSCC employees have been participating in since the start of the year. A committee comprised of several FSCC staff members is currently conducting a campaign to raise funds for an outdoor electronic LED sign and billboard. The sign is estimated to cost about $52,000 and will be constructed on the east side of the FSCC campus next to Horton Street.

The sign is designed to help FSCC officials to better communicate with the public. The sign will sign will also inform FSCC students and local residents of all events and activities going on at the college.

On Monday, the fundraising committee used talent and humor to perform a presentation about the campaign for trustees. The performance included a song and dance routine led by FSCC speech instructor Nathan Magee and FSCC Construction Trades Office Manager Allison Olin, who portrayed the famed "Sonny and Cher" musical duo. After the performance, all trustees received a free T-shirt featuring the campaign's slogan "FSCC Employees Have Heart" and a pledge card to make his or her donation.

To date, the committee has raised $16,238 in gifts and pledges from 48 of 168 total employees at the college. The committee's goal is to raise $17,000 a year for the next three years. The first part of the fundraising campaign will end Feb. 14.