J. Gregory Gerdel
Imagine you are committed to producing a theater or dance show for a future date at the Barre Opera House, but the stage at that popular auditorium is booked solid. The just-opened Montpelier Performing Arts Hub aims to have an ideal rehearsal space for such productions, specifically one studio with dimensions almost identical to those of the Opera House stage.
Since the ribbon cutting July 31 at the former Gary Library building on the campus of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, the hub’s board of directors have laid out detailed plans for the renovation of the building; the design of the intimate auditorium, studio and rehearsal spaces, and classrooms; and the fund-raising strategy to make it all possible.
Kianna Bromley, the founder and president of the performing arts hub, has been focused on creating an arts-centric facility in central Vermont for several years. Her enthusiasm is evident as she hosts a video tour of the building, produced this summer when the purchase was finalized (see it at mpa-hub.org/about).
Bromley, who formerly taught theater arts and directed the Masque Theater Program at Montpelier High School, applies her experience and her master’s degree in business in entrepreneurship from the University of Vermont (UVM) to creating business models for nonprofit and commercial organizations. In addition to teaching, her diverse experience includes working as the business manager for the Orchard Valley Waldorf School, the student matinee series manager at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, and as finance director for Small Dog Electronics.
Another former Montpelier teacher, Sierra Norford, serves as a volunteer and treasurer for the board of directors. Also a UVM graduate, Norford said one of the first objectives of the board will be to pay off a $462,000 loan from the Vermont Community Loan fund, which supplemented the $390,000 raised by the arts hub to purchase the building. The Montpelier Performing Arts Hub website indicates that “passionate community members, foundations, and trusts with high capacity and grassroots community support” are being sought for repayment of the loan and to begin the planned renovations to the building, currently estimated to be around $3.4 million to $4 million.
Top priorities for the renovations are installation of an elevator to bring the building into compliance with accessibility standards and adding on a deck that will reorient access to the building from the current entrance to a planned café/bar at the north end of the building.
The organization’s website (mpa-hub.org) provides details of its mission, business plan, and the renovations to be undertaken. The website notes the “collaborative work of our organization with the Freeman French Freeman architectural firm, Connor Contracting, and Don Hirsch Design Studios.”
A Musical Comedy in the Works
Auditions are being held during the first week in September for staging “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” which won multiple Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2005. It has since been produced by local and community theater groups across the country. The show is scheduled for Nov. 7–10.
