MCC to gain new facility for fine arts department
Max Pullenza
MCC’s Music, Theater, and Dance departments will soon have a new facility. To the tune of approximately $4 million dollars, the Harkins Theater and the Fuddruckers restaurant location off of Longmore St. will become a new venue to showcase students’ talents on a much larger scale.
As of right now, the Theater Outback is the only place where all three departments can hold their concerts and recitals.
In fact, the Music Department must hold its concerts off-campus due to limited facilities at the theater.
“Currently the Theatre Outback can only accommodate 200 people,” said Sonia Filan, director of MCC’s Office of Institutional Advancement.
“But the new facility will be designed to accommodate significantly more people.”
In addition to the Music, Theater, and Dance departments getting a new facility, three other groups will be getting a new home as well.
In July of this year, MCC, Mesa Public Schools and Northern Arizona University announced immediate plans to move forward with the creation of a P-20 center which will be located at the southeast end of MCC’s Southern and Dobson campus in Mesa’s Fiesta District redevelopment area.
The Mesa P-20 Center is the first joint effort between a K-12 school district, a community college, and a university in the state of Arizona.
The city of Mesa will also be an important partner in the development of the center.
Although the plan for Fuddruckers is still under review, the school is expected to come to a decision soon.
The construction and renovation of the five acres was originally planned to start in 2010, but with its recent acquisition, the start date has been moved up to later this year.
