Aug. 25 marks an exciting moment in history for Penn State York when the campus unveils its new building featuring the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, the Lee R. Glatfelter Library and the John T. and Paige S. Smith Atrium. The ribbon cutting is set for 2 p.m., and will be followed by tours of the building, interactive entertainment from 3 to 5 p.m., an art exhibit highlighting 12 local artists and then a free performace by the CTO Orchestra/Fifth Avenue beginning at 7 p.m. in the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center. The day of festivities is free to the public. Penn State President Graham B. Spanier and a number of other University and local officials, alumni, students and members of the community will take part in the opening ceremony.
Construction of the 71,000-square-foot facility began just over a year ago and completion of the building has been highly anticipated by the campus and community. The $11.9 million facility is being constructed with state funding through the Department of General Services in Harrisburg. The new building overlooks the city of York from a hilltop on the south side of the campus near the Main Classroom Building.
The performing arts center has seating for 1,000 and will offer full theater capabilities. Guests will enjoy the intimacy of a smaller theater with the seating capacity of a larger venue because of the balcony that is part of the architectural design.
"We will have a fully equipped theatre with state-of-the-art lighting and sound and one of the largest stage houses in the area. There's a full fly tower which allows us to bring in tours and traveling shows of all kinds," said Holly L. Gumke, director of business services at the campus. She worked closely with contractors on the project. The campus already has booked "42nd Street," the touring Broadway show, for 8 p.m. Sept. 28. For ticket information on the performance, contact Gumke at (717) 771-4100 or hlg4@psu.edu.
This section of the building also will house art classroom space and offer programming flexibility not currently available on campus. The performing arts center will allow the campus to bring in a variety of entertainment and educational programming that will complement the offerings of other venues in the area.
"We will try to provide cultural and educational experiences to the community that appeal to a wide audience and are not currently available," Gumke said. In addition to cultural events, the performing arts center will be used for commencement, a film series and a variety of other activities. The performing arts center will be home to four resident companies -- the York Youth Symphony Orchestra, York Junior Symphony Orchestra, York County Honors Choir and the York County Junior Honors Choir -- which will rehearse and perform there.
The library portion of the facility will be two separate levels and include group study rooms, stack space, instructional space and special collections rooms. More seating space will be available in the new library and visitors will have a spectacular view of Memorial Park, York, campus and the woods. The library doubles in size from just 9,000 square feet in the old facility to almost 20,000 square feet in the new one.
"The whole internal environment of the library will be remarkably different than what library users are currently used to," said David B. Van de Streek, assistant librarian at Penn State York. "In addition to a larger, more spread-out space, there will be a generous amount of natural light through the library's many windows, and the general acoustics should be far better than those experiences in the old library." The library will have its own computer lab.
The performing arts center and the library are connected with an atrium/lobby space designed to be open to floors above and below. There will be ample use of glass to take advantage of natural light and the vistas to the north. Sparky and Clarks, a popular local cafe, will have a location in the atrium. It will be open during the day as well as during events at the performing arts center.
In addition to the paid performances in the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, the campus will continue its free cultural arts series sponsored in part by the York Newspaper Co. Free programs already booked for the performing arts center include Cheryl Wheeler, folk singer, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4; Komplex, Spoken Word Poet, 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19; Chinua Hawk, R&B singer, 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9.; The Healing Force, 7 p.m. Thursday; Great Jazz Divas, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 23; and Val Mazzenga, "The Untold Story," lecture, 7 p.m. Thursday, April 6.
"Penn State York invites students, faculty, staff and the local community to the opening of this highly anticipated new building," said Joel M. Rodney, campus executive officer at Penn State York. "Come and celebrate with us."
Lobar Associates is the general contractor for the project and the architectural firm Murphy and Dittenhafer of York is the design professional for the project. Check out progress on the new building by visiting the live Web cam at http://www.yk.psu.edu/webcam/