The first performance in the theater of the Carroll Arts Center post-shutdown is tentatively scheduled for August. In the meantime, the building is getting some upgrades.
“We wanted to just be a little friendlier to the performers and the patrons,” said Executive Director Judy Morley.
The first project is a theater overhaul, which will include repainting the space in lighter colors, replacing the stage floor and curtains and upgrading the houselights. It was initially going to take place over late summer, but when the Arts Council realized that COVID-19 would mean no performances for a while, they worked with contractors to move up the dates.
The project is being funded by a grant from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA) Grant Program, matched by fundraiser dollars.
Part of the project is replacing molded wallpaper and carpet that was ruined by floods in 2018. On Thursday, painters were finishing up replacing the dark blues and grays of the wallpaper with lighter colored paint to make the theater’s Art Deco-style details stand out.
Replacing and rearranging the houselights will hopefully make the space safer and more convenient for guests.
Morley said it will also be a relief for the city’s staff who had to haul in scaffolding and tools monthly to replace burnt-out bulbs. The new LED lights are expected to last close to 20 years. They are also spread out to give better lighting in the center seats rather than just the aisles.
Morley hopes the stage floor replacement will allow the center to diversify its programming. They hope to be a more appealing venue when their stage floor isn’t essentially made of plywood.
“Rather than just kind of having movies and concerts and movies and concerts and movies and concerts, we wanted to include some dance, we wanted to include more drama that might have sets that would need to move more easily on something rather than painted plywood," she said.
While the second project, an HVAC replacement, may sound less glamorous, it was necessary because the humidity in the air was destroying artwork in the Arts Center galleries, Morley said.
“I hated being the squeaky wheel, but it was really getting to the point where we were having to pay artists for work that was ruined from just sitting in the gallery," she said.
The city of Westminster, which own the Arts Center building covered the cost of the repair.
The full extent of damage to the HVAC system was discovered last year when a crew doing a repair found that at some point there had been a fire inside the system. It did not extend out into the building, but blew out all of the dehumidification capabilities, Morley said.
The project was slowed becuase of disruptions in the supply chain for parts shipping from overseas. But there is still some buffer between the expected finish date in July and the first live performance in the theater scheduled for late August, Morley said.
They’re not sure what the restrictions will look like at that date, and expect they will still be planning performances for smaller audiences.
“And that’s where the theater renovation can be really cool, because it’s going to allow us to maybe do some, you know, kind of guerrilla artwork and some more offbeat performances that we might not have tried if we were under the financial pressure to sell out all, you know, 263 seats,” she said.
The Arts Center is operating on limited hours with the box office and gift shop open Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The first gallery show since the COVID-19 closures is set to open Monday, June 29. Titled “WWII: The Soldiers from Westminster,” it features the graduation photos of Westminster High School students, both men and women, who served in World War II. U.S. History teacher Steve Bowersox spearheaded the research for the project.
More information is available at the newly redesigned Carroll County Arts Council website at carrollcountyartscouncil.org.