Beginning Saturday, December 20th, the Buchanan Center for the Arts in Downtown Monmouth will temporarily close to the public to allow for the renovation of the second floor to begin, informs Executive Director Ann Tenold:
“We are going to close to the public on the 20th of December. We are going to start renovations on the building. 64 Public Square will wind up having a renovated second floor, which will double the size of our building and allow us to do a lot more types of programming. We will have dance, more performing arts, our Weaver’s Guild will be upstairs, we will have a field trip classroom where we can do both visual art and also performance art. We are talking about hosting a lot of other organizations if they want to do dress rehearsals or practice in front of a public audience, all that will be free and open to the public. I think it is really going to expand the type of programming we can do and hopefully garner the interest of new people to come in too,” states Tenold.
Even though the Buchanan Center for the Arts building will be closed for a while to the public, Tenold reports they will remain out and about in the community with a large outreach program launching in January:
“We are doing a very large outreach program starting in January. We will have tables in places where people already are. They will have art supplies and sample art projects that you can do while you are waiting for something else. For instance, Axline Pharmacy said we could put an art table in their space, Moore Tires, and we are also talking with OSF. Then in addition to that, we will be doing a lot of free classes in community art centers around our area,” Tenold adds.
The renovation of the second floor at the Buchanan Center for the Arts is a $1.5 million project.
