As summer comes to a close and the school year begins, the Houlton High School Auditorium will be busy once again.  With the finishing of this state of the art facility in November, the focus of the HCACC Board will be to wrap up the funding for Phase One of the project and begin to ramp up fundraising to work on phase two.  One of the major changes in the board of directors for HCAC is the stepping down of President Joe Fagnant.  He will remain on the board and be focusing on project managing, finishing off details recognizing our donors and also working towards the future of the 13,000 square foot expansion.  The HCACC will now be lead by President Torrey Sylvester.  Torrey brings years of fundraising experience to the board and is a great addition to the project.  Meetings and planning sessions of the fundraising committee will be lead by Torrey.  It is great to have his expertise as we continue to raise funds to match the $2.5 million in bond money that was approved by a referendum.

Welcome 2010!  The Houlton Community Arts Center Council will have another busy year as it wraps up many components of the first phase of the full arts center project while also looking to the future phase two expansion.  Many people have had a positive reaction to the changes in the auditorium and new entry area of Houlton High School.  Since the opening of the auditorium in November of 2009, thousands of patrons have attended succesful concerts and events and have found the space to be wonderful.  Many of the early arrivers to each show would rush upstairs to the great balcony seats.  The MSAD #29 music department and community guests were also able to set up for various sized events, handling a full stage of musicians while also surrounding the audience with singers in the aisles, box seats and balcony.  The road ahead for 2010 will find the council still moving ahead with fundraising efforts and also laying out plans for phase two.  More donations are necessary to make the full project come to a reality, and the volunteers are looking forward to raising more funds through out the year.

The first phase of the Houlton Community Arts Center construction project came to a rapid close just in time for the opening events.  The first usage of the auditorium was on November 20 for the Houlton HS production of “Damn Yankees”.  Both the show and the experience in the new venue was well received by hundreds of audience members.  Patrons were wowed by the newness of every aspect of the auditorium, especially the views from the balcony.  Upgrades to lights and sound were appreciated by the tech crew and the audience members.  Everything came together nicely for the three performances, and it was also wonderful to have the lead architect, Carla Haskell, and our main contractor Peter Chase of Buildings Ectetera in attendance.

After the opening weekend, the next major event was held on December 2nd, as the Houlton HS Band and Chorus invited members of the Houlton Community Chorus and McGills Community Band to join them on stage.  The audience was impressed with the auditorium and it was a packed house for the event.  It was wonderful to finish out the evening by combining over 150 voices and instruments in a special closing number.  Another highlight to the evening was having world renown composer Samuel R. Hazo conduct his own compositions for the first performance of the Houlton HS Band on the newly expanded stage.  The audience was impressed with all aspects of the concert and also pleased with how everything came together for the first community celebration of the Houlton Community Arts Center and the full opening of the HHS auditorium.

October has been a very busy month for construction.  Major work had to be done on flooring in the main entry area including installing a beautiful, black tile as part of the finished entry area.  A large trophy cabinet and oak bench finish off the grand entry.  Doors were trimmed out in granite laminate and even a water fountain was installed to serve the public.  The final install will be the ticket kiosk to be completed in early November.

The auditorium has undergone all the major installs that give it a grand look.  During harvest break, concrete was poured to finish off the sloped floor for the main seating area.  Motorized wheelbarrels filled with concrete were driven down the hallways and into the auditorium in order to fill in the framed in sections.  Upstairs, the balcony had three areas of seating platforms installed for the stadium style seating.

Finishing touches are beginning to change all the major looks of the auditorium including red walls, three different types of  house lighting and deeply stained ebony, oak doors.  The balcony and stairs leading from the entry vestibules change the overall feeling of the  and will provided enhanced audience experiences.

Behind the scenes, a revamped sound system including 13 speakers connected to a digital processing system will provide the audience with a fantastic auditory environment.  A new theater lighting system will provide multiple stage lighting locations and have a state of the art dimmer system that ties into the stage and house lights to allow for various preset controls.  All of this upgraded technology will provide great flexibility for groups using the auditorium.

There are still lots of things to do, check out more picture and video updates!

The best way to see what is truly happening at HHS is to watch our posted videos from this website or from the HHS Alumni Association.  We will be updating these videos as new looks to the project keep happening throughout September into October.  Your financial support is still needed so buy a chair or donate directly to the project.  You can access the videos from the home page.

The 2009 school year has begun for MSAD #29 and the work at HHS finished in certain areas of the building right as scheduled.  There currently is ongoing work with a new sprinkler system and also doing electrical work and other minor work in the hallway outside the auditorium.  The general reaction from the students on their new looking school is one of awe and they also think it is pretty cool.  There is still work to be done in the cafeteria from now through harvest vacation including finishing the ceramic floors, installing a trophy case, ticket kiosk and bench.  The auditorium is now the big focus of the construction project and a full work load continues including pouring concrete floors, working on rails for the balcony and building some walls for the vestibules. There is still a lot of electrical and ventilation work continuing in this space.  It is a major work in progress more to come next month.

By August 14th with only one more full week of summer vacation to complete major work at HHS, things are moving along very fast. Currently the following things are finished or near completion:

Newly constructed curved entry area from parking lot has been completed with doors, paint, windows, lighting. Exterior and interior trim work to be completed soon.

Entry into cafeteria nearing completion including new walls, new drop ceiling, paint and VCT flooring to be completed soon. There will be a delay on the new ceramic tile to be installed, which will go in during harvest break in October. Lighting is being completed very soon.

Paint…Lets just say we are golden!

New kiosk, ticket booth area, bench and trophy case are not installed yet. Completion of these major builds are still in the works.

Main hallway outside the auditorium will still need new doors to auditorium, panel trims around doors, and items to rehang in the hallway will be moved around and spaced out appropriately.

The auditorium is a major work in progress, but we are happy to say the steel work for the wrap around mezzanine is in place. New doors to back of stage are ready and major electrical items are being worked on.

The history area across from the auditorium is complete and ready to move in. Clean up of the band room is almost finished and hopefully ready for hundreds of instruments, thousands of musical scores and coutless props, costumes and other items.

As work keeps progressing, more updates will be given. Lots of things to do, so little time.

New videos from late August!

All of the videos for August 21st and 28th are below.  Scroll the video window left and right to see them all or just click play and enjoy!

The new school year is just around the corner and the crew has been hard at work on renovations to the school.  Check out these videos to see how the process has been going!

As of July 4th the following has been completed:

1. Auditorium stripped of: seats, sound clouds, wood panels, sound booth, lights, ventilation, theater equipment and catwalk.

2. Work has started on removing stage walls located on the wings and removing portions of the stage to build passarelles.

3. Ceiling has been painted in music room.

4. New lights and ventilation are being worked on in music area.

5. Cafeteria wall has been removed, storage closets are removed, floor tile with asbestos is gone, exterior work for new entry started.

6. History area redesign has been completed and new walls are done and are to the drywalling stage (part of HHS renovations).

As school comes to a close, come up for a visit and see the auditorium, it is all gone!  The seats are out, the theater lights are gone, the curtains are down, the lofts are empty and the control booth and sound clouds are dropping fast.  What a great job the students have done clearing out for the upcoming Houlton Community Arts Center renovations.  In just four days, all four lofts filled with costumes, props, sets, scenery and music were emptied and stored in the small gym and a trailer.  There is still some work to do as we have to empty out the three offices and move some instruments to storage, but the majority of the demolition work is complete.

Phase one of the Houlton Community Arts Center is a full renovation of the auditorium including adding a balcony,  new seats, new theater lighting, moving the control booth, expanding the stage,  and upgrading the sound system.  This monumental change is possible because of the funding provided by the Houlton Community Arts Center Council.  There will also be changes in the hallway outside the auditorium and the entry to the cafeteria.  The partnership that HCACC developed with MSAD #29 afforded both entities the opportunity to make major changes on behalf of the school and the community.  This phase of the project is hopefully the start of bigger and better things to come.  With changes to the auditorium complete by November, the next phase will be to raise enough funds for an addition of 13,000 square feet of classrooms, rehearsal areas, and storage.
When school starts up in late August, the challenge that the music department will face is that the auditorium will not be finished.  With all the major structure work that has to happen, we hope to have the auditorium ready for the fall musical in late November.
Losing access to the auditorium for a few months will also be a challenge to the music programs.   Currently the auditorium is used everyday for rehearsals, instrument storage and it also contains Mr. Mania’s office.  With the changes planned, we lose the office on stage, storage on the wings of the stage, and the loft storage above the wings.  Although the end result will be a state-of-the-art auditorium, this will also force the music department to work in closer quarters than we currently do.  Rehearsals for our groups and for the musical will all need to fit into one room.  What a challenge!  With less access to the auditorium and the loss of storage and a teaching space, it will bring to the fore front the need to quickly move ahead with phase two of the project.
Phase two includes a new band room, separate chorus room, bringing the art room to this end of the school, new offices and new practice rooms.  We know we need this new space.   We are excited phase one has started and are looking into the not-so-distant future for phase two.  Look for updates on the HCAC website www.houltonarts.org.