By Jamil Oakford/ editor-in-chief
NE Campus will be home to a brand new performing arts center.
After a little over a decade of meetings and talks, TCC’s board of trustees approved a new facility to serve the campus’ visual, technical and performing arts programs.
“There’s been dialogue for around 15 years about this,” NE president Allen Goben said. “So there’s been a lot of different approaches to planning and conceptualizing the facility.”
Now everyone involved is ready for the next stage: in-depth and detail-oriented planning.
“Right now, there will be some real thorough evaluation on the architectural planning and design work,” Goben said.
For the time being, the specifics are to be worked out, but Goben said the center will hold several classrooms to house classes in art, dance, theater and music.
“It’ll help general students as well, but it’s really anchored around careers related to the arts,” he said.
The college is currently working with the city of North Richland Hills to work out the location of the center as this will also be open for the surrounding community.
“This [center] will be on the North Richland Hills side of our campus,” Goben said.
The center was previously considered for a location just across Highway 26 in the Home Town development.
Former chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley tried to progress plans on the performing arts center, realizing that NE Campus held a lot of promise.
“It was evident then that NE Campus was the go-to center for the performing arts,” Board member Kristin Vandergriff said at the Jan. 21 board meeting.
With a lot of effort from former NE president Larry Darlage and several meetings held on NE open to the public for suggestions, the center became step-by-step less of a vision and a little more tangible. In December, it was decided that the location wouldn’t be adequate enough to meet TCC’s needs.
“The size of the facility would have been challenging to fit the facility and the parking,” North Richland Hills city planner Mark Hindman said. “Moving it across the street was not a problem. It’s still in North Richland Hills.”
This facility will serve not just TCC students but the city as well.
NE art department chair Martha Gordon said she is thrilled by the news.
“Absolutely excited,” she said. “I’m very excited for the opportunity for the arts programs.”
NE communication arts department chair Linda Quinn was also excited for the news.
“The fact that the building is getting closer is exciting,” she said.
Quinn said this center will be a great gain for students, faculty and the community.
“I think it’ll be a winning situation for our programs that desperately need the space and the surrounding community for community outreach,” she said.
The current Fine Arts building houses music, theater and art programs, which would all be moved to the new center. There are some ideas for what will happen with the fine arts building once it’s vacated.
“We’ll gain some much needed space,” Goben said. “Our arts programs have outgrown that building, and we can repurpose those rooms for other classes.”
