BUCKHANNON – The Colonial Art Center’s construction is nearing completion.
The CAC board learned the front of the building will be fully covered soon during their Jan. 4 meeting. CAC manager Anne Wilson said construction on the property is moving along at a steady pace and should be completed soon.
“We have the front entrance of the building almost completely covered at this point – the guys did a lot of work today and they’ve been putting up slats of wood to cover the entire front – so I’m very, very excited,” Wilson said. “I took some pictures, and we’ll get that on the website so people can take a look at that later. I have some seating options for the balcony from one seating company, but I think we are waiting for a few more possible seating options and estimates. Since nothing is permanent at this point, it’s just here to browse.”
The concession stand is also being constructed and crews have been working in the basement to finish the dressing rooms.
“The dressing rooms upstairs have been completed and then after the basement is done, they’re going to move up into the balcony and get the balcony finished,” Wilson said. “The balcony doesn’t need too much more before we could get seating put in there. I think it’s really just a few final touches to the flooring and the stage area up there, but aside from that, the main hall is in really good condition.”
The board was also shown a draft of the new CAC website, where people will be able to find a schedule of events, purchase tickets or find more information about the CAC.
“It’s really exciting to hear because that means I can get some more photographs emailed that we could upload onto there, and k.b. [saine, consultant for the CAC] and I will edit all of these text documents that I created for the website, so we hope to have this website launched within a week or so – two weeks maybe – but that’s the goal,” Wilson said.
The Buckhannon Community Theatre is also planning to continue utilizing the building for their future performances.
“We had the Buckhannon Community Theatre’s anniversary show and it was excellent,” Wilson said. “There was a great turnout, and Keith [Buchanan] and his wife sang a really cute song it was awesome. I really enjoyed hosting that in the Colonial. The BCT is putting together their 2023 season; they want to do their spring show and their winter show in the Colonial. I will have dates for you as soon as I receive them. They’re still putting together that season.”
CAC board member Keith Buchanan also announced that board member Alisa Lively will be joining him as a co-chair on the fundraising committee.
“She’s going to be focusing on what we’ll call the recognition pieces — that’s anybody that gave us something,” Buchanan said. “We have to make sure we recognize it properly, thoroughly, and especially in a time-sensitive manner by the grand opening. Anybody who has made a contribution, as of that time, we want to be absolutely sure they’re recognized and that we have the appropriate ways to do it.”
