The
Ordway Center for Performing Arts in St. Paul is over halfway to its fundraising goal of $35 million for a new concert hall and related endowment fund.
Plans are underway to expand its McKnight Theatre, which is separate from the 1,900-seat Music Theater.
Under the plan, the McKnight will go from a 315-seat proscenium arch-style theater to a 1,100-seat arena stage configuration, according to Patricia Mitchell, its president and CEO.
Audiences will wrap all around the platform in the new "purpose-built" concert hall, she explains.
The face-to-face views "change the way people listen to music," while the acoustics will have "great natural sound," she says.
A related endowment fund will help underwrite the use of the new McKnight by each of the Ordway arts partners, including the
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra,
Minnesota Opera, and
Schubert Club, which share space at the Ordway.
As it is, the two stages are fully booked, she says. Last year, only 23 dates went unfilled, and those were Mondays, which are traditionally "dark" or off days.
A larger concert hall will help ease scheduling headaches and allow for more specific programming with longer runs, she says. Some professional music groups that don't have a permanent home will "have a first-class venue available to them."
It'll also accommodate more audiences, including greater numbers of schoolchildren. With another 125,000 people coming downtown every year, she adds, the place will be an economic boon for the city. "The impact on the restaurants and parking is huge," she says.
Although the theater design is still in progress, she's pleased with how it's shaping up.
The space will blend in with the nearby Rice Park, "one of the most beautiful urban squares anywhere," she says, adding, "It's important to maintain the character and feeling of that."
Construction could start as early as next spring, depending on the project's financing coming together.
"I think it's a wonderful solution to a longstanding problem," for the
four arts partners, while it's also a "tremendous benefit to the
community at large," she says.
Source: Patricia A. Mitchell, president and CEO, Ordway
Writer: Anna Pratt