CHARLOTTE — Plans for a fine arts center to serve all of the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools are being explored again, several years after leaders put a similar proposal on the back burner.
The MACS Office, the Charlotte Catholic High School Development Office and the Diocese of Charlotte Development Office are eyeing plans for a fine arts center that would be located on the campus of Charlotte Catholic High School and would serve the MACS schools and be available to the broader community.
Since Charlotte Catholic High School moved to its present location on Pineville-Matthews Road in 1995, school leaders have recognized the need for providing a dedicated fine arts facility.
Especially as the award-winning chorus, band, theater and visual arts programs at MACS schools have grown, space has become more limited.
The last time a fine arts center at Charlotte Catholic was considered was in 2011, when planning was also under way for the high school’s stadium renovation and parking deck. The stadium renovation and parking deck were completed in 2015.
Now, plans for a possible fine arts center are being looked at afresh.
A Pre-Campaign Advisory Committee has been working with the schools and development offices, and the diocese has hired the Steier Group, a Catholic fund development consulting firm from Omaha, Neb., to complete a comprehensive feasibility study which will determine whether there is enough support for the project.
Principal Kurt Telford recently updated MACS parents about the proposed project and asked for their opinions through a brief survey. “This study will allow us to gather everyone’s thoughts regarding the plans for the Fine Arts Center,” Telford said. “It will also determine whether there is sufficient support to move forward with a major fundraising effort. Should we embark on a capital campaign, the planning study will help us determine a realistic fundraising goal and identify campaign leaders, potential major donors and a campaign timeframe,” he said.
Plans call for the MACS capital fee to provide $15 million of the project’s total $23.3 million cost.
The approximately 54,000-square-foot fine arts center would house a 650-seat auditorium and a high-quality performance and exhibit space for MACS students. It would also house two art studios and a band room, broadcast studio, ceramics studio, dance studio, dark room and digital lab, photography lab, stage and theater.
Charlotte Catholic’s visual and performing arts classes would move to the new center, freeing up space in the existing high school building for regular classrooms as well as space for a weight room, wrestling room and additional academic uses.
The fine arts center would be located on the site of a gravel parking lot, adjacent to the current gymnasium wing of the high school.
Jim Kelley, diocesan development director, noted that the schools have not conducted a major regional capital campaign since the mid-1990s, when Charlotte Catholic was relocated.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
