Renovations and upgrades to the performance space at Selkirk College’s Tenth Street Campus remain on track for a mid-summer completion.
Owner’s representative Paula Kiss and college development coordinator Pat Henman led a tour late last month of the former Studio 80, which is receiving an overhaul along with the student residences in the same building.
Kiss says highlights will include a new main entrance facing Tenth Street, new atrium, larger stage, expanded seating, and better sound isolation.
A large south-facing glass wall will connect the lounge spaces on each floor, and there will also be a new ticket booth, coat check, and donor wall.
The upper level will be mixed use — offices, practice rooms, a computer lab, and additional washrooms to serve the whole building.
“We’re looking at construction wrapping up in late July,” Kiss says.
“That doesn’t mean necessarily that we can open the doors, because there’s a lot of furnishing and finishing that still needs to be done, but the hammers should stop swinging.”
General contractor Wildstone Construction and Engineering of Penticton is now wrapping up the electrical and mechanical components.
The expanded studio itself, which will be used primarily by contemporary music and technology students, will have 108 seats.
The stage will be “bigger and roomier,” and there will be more space for the audience to mill about, Kiss says. “We also lifted the ceiling to give it a bigger volume at the back of the studio,” she explains.
Since last November, the college’s Count Me in Campaign has sold seat sponsorships for $500 each. Forty-four have been taken so far, which Henman calls “fantastic.”
The Nelson and District Credit Union bought the naming rights to the sound booth for $5,000, while the lighting booth, green room, and lobby are still up for grabs. The biggest ticket item is the outside of the building.
“We are in negotiations with an organization for the actual facility name,” Henman says, adding they’ve received $5,000 from the City of Nelson in Columbia Basin Trust funding, and a few smaller grants, bringing the overall total close to $40,000.
Other grant applications are still outstanding — Henman wrote $62,000 worth — which could help them reach their goal of $150,000 by June 1. “We’ve got our fingers crossed that it will be done,” she says.
Anyone interested in sponsoring seats or rooms in the refurbished facility can reach Henman at 250-505-1324.