In Wednesday’s (5/30) Canton Rep (Ohio), Dan Kane reports, “Work began Tuesday morning on an interior renovation at McKinley High School’s Umstattd Performing Arts Hall, which is the concert home of the Canton Symphony Orchestra. The three-phase project is budgeted at $5.5 million, of which $3.4 million already has been raised from symphony board members, foundations, corporations and other donors. A public ‘Take A Seat’ fundraising campaign will begin this month. … In the project’s first phase, the auditorium will be outfitted with 1,460 new seats, carpeting and lighting, it will be repainted, and the women’s restroom will be doubled. These upgrades will be completed by the launch of the symphony’s 75th season in the fall. Next spring, providing funding is in place, construction will begin on the Zimmermann Symphony Center, named after Gerhardt Zimmermann, the orchestra’s music director for 30 seasons. This building would include dressing rooms, a music library, a 2,000-square-foot multipurpose room for receptions and small performances, storage space and more. The Canton Symphony offices, currently located at the Cultural Center for the Arts, will be housed here as well. The third phase would be the paving of a gravel parking lot along Blake Avenue NW, for concert overflow parking.”
Posted May 30, 2012
