A view of the upper lobby area of the Davison Center for Performing Arts. Photos by Gary Gould
DAVISON — Approved by voters in the 2020 bond election, the $18.8 million Davison High School Center for the Fine Arts is nearing completion. Officials hope to host the first event there sometime in late fall or early winter.
Superintendent Matt Lobban said final work on the Fine Arts Center is still underway, but the long-awaited facility – a replacement for the high school’s half-century-old Maxine I. Ude Auditorium – is nearly ready to open.
The auditorium at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) seats 1,000 and features a balcony, new lighting and a sound system.
The PAC increases space for band and orchestra from 1,700 square feet to 3,000 square feet, nearly doubling the size. Students can enter the building from the music room and there is an east entrance to the parking lot for access to festivals and marching competitions.
Isabella Hinkley, 17, a drum major in her senior year at Davison High School, said she has toured the new Performing Arts Center (PAC) and is looking forward to classes and rehearsals there.
A view from the upper balcony down to the ground floor of the auditorium.
“The music room is so much bigger than the old music room and we’re going to be able to accommodate a lot more students there,” she said. “We’re going to be able to get more students into the classroom, which is going to be great and it’s going to sound better.”
Isabella said the sound will not be much different from what the band creates when they perform on stage at the PAC, which she described as a “beautiful facility.”
There is more storage space than ever before, with movable storage rooms and outdoor lockers so students can store their instruments there in their personal space instead of leaving them on the floor.
There are also rooms with separate practice areas for the various elements of the bands and orchestras and a stage construction workshop with garage door for the performing arts center to build props and sets as well as space for makeup and dressing rooms.
A view of the exterior of the Davison Center for Performing Arts.
DTV, Davison High School’s Emmy-winning television station, occupies the high school’s former weight room, which has been converted into a state-of-the-art studio for DTV and is now located in the area between the existing gymnasium and the entrance to the new Performing Arts Center.
Cooper Austin, senior and executive producer at DTV, said students are excited about the new facility and studio.
He said he was most impressed by the new technologies used in the new DTV studio, adding that they had previously used cameras from the early 2000s but were now working with new, advanced technology.
“It’s incredible how much trust our community has put in us, in a studio that’s made for high school students,” Cooper said. “We’re very grateful to the community at this point for giving us this new opportunity with the bond and being able to advance us in the careers we aspire to.”
The new make-up area. Photos by Gary Gould
He said DTV will begin coverage of this year’s Davison High School football season and homecoming immediately and that students will need to gradually become familiar with the new, professional technology.
DTV teacher Randy Scott said it was “incredible” what DTV would be able to do with its new studio.
Scott said that once the school year begins, DTV will remain in the old studio for a while until work on the new facility is completed and training on the new equipment is complete.
“We’re going to do a kind of hybrid workplace: We’re going to work in the old studio and teach the kids the techniques, but then also show them the new stuff and try to learn it,” he said. “We’re going to get the kids up to speed on what journalism means, how to do good sports coverage, and then they can learn the tools and the technology. That’s how we’re going to have to approach it this year.”
Scott said the students are excited about the new studio and can’t wait to learn and use the new technology.
The PAC lobby area features a cloakroom, catering facilities and a ticket counter.
“We’re really excited about it,” he added. “The opportunity to create something in this environment with this technology will be great. We’re super happy to have the support of the community and the administration in giving us this opportunity, and we recognize that we are a valuable part of this community; it means a lot to us.”
Jerry Piger, principal of Davison High School, said it has been exciting to see the PAC develop from initial planning to its realization, and then bringing people into the facility and seeing their reaction is what makes it all worthwhile.
“You can see their smiles,” he said. “The staff were excited. When they saw how big and luxurious it was, they were overjoyed.”
Piger said the high school has offered such “world-class” programs for years and now has the opportunity to expand those programs even further.
Lobban said everything is close to completion and that construction crews, tradesmen, DCC Construction and architects are working hard to complete the district soon.
The final works include, among others, laying the carpet, installing the stage equipment, hanging the curtains, installing the panels to cover the orchestra pit on the stage and the entire audiovisual configuration.
“It’s a monster, that’s how technologically advanced it is,” Lobban said. “So it’s going to take some time to get it up and running and train everyone to use it.”
“We’re so excited to be able to offer this to the students – music and theater students and DTV,” he said. “And it’s going to be great for the community with the theater performances and dance performances; just the memories that are being made here and knowing how many memories have been made in the Maxine Ude Auditorium has been evident since we had to close it in June.”
“(The community) will have another 50 years of stories with this facility,” Lobban said. “It’s just incredible.”
The facility is part of the $71 million bond proposal approved by voters on March 10, 2020.
