St. Cecilia Music Center (SCMC) is wrapping up renovations on its well over
100-year-old historic downtown building at the end of next month and has its sights set on closing the final $1.4 million gap in its $5.5 million total
Music Lives Here fundraising campaign.
Launched last summer, the Music Lives Here campaign was created by SCMC organizers to raise money for the renovations, with the final portion earmarked as an endowed fund for continued maintenance of the space following initial construction.
Though the building will make its first official post-renovation debut at a Nov. 3 invitation-only event, its larger public unveiling is set to take place on Nov. 10 during SCMC’s kick-off of the 2016-2017 Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Series in the newly renovated
Royce Auditorium.
“Concert goers will experience an intimate evening with the comfort of brand new seating to watch and listen to a great performance,” says Executive Director Cathy Holbrook. “The sound will be breathtaking and the audience will love our visual transformation of the hall, lobby, ballroom and entire facility.”
Holbrook says the staff recently moved into the new administrative office and says though the new modern office suite is the only overhaul that completely changes the building’s original aesthetic, it’s been a morale booster for the team and a welcome change from the cramped room they all shared during the summer’s renovation work.
“We were all living together in one room for the summer, and so that was challenging and great in many ways,” says Holbrook, who adds the “staff is excited we’ve moved into our new home.”
Holbrook says nearly every surface of the historic building was updated or refreshed in some way, which, alongside the administrative office upgrade, also includes the installation of a new professional sound and lighting system in Royce Auditorium, and such additions as fresh paint, new carpeting, refinished flooring, and ADA accessibility upgrades throughout the building in its entirety.
“We wanted everything to look refreshed without changing the aesthetic or overall feeling of the building,” she says. “Preservation was really at the center of what we are doing, so it’s almost like we had a facelift and not like we gutted the whole space and started over. We weren’t interested in building a brand new building — we’re interested in preserving the space we have while making sure it’s still kept to a high standard.”
In addition to cash donations, SCMC is still looking to fill some sponsorships which, at $500, will earn donors a chair in the new Royce Auditorium marked by an inscribed plaque.
To learn more about SCMC or to make your contribution to its
Music Lives Here fundraising campaign, visit www.scmc-online.org.
Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of St. Cecilia Music Center on Facebook
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