Friday, March 8, 2002
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Friday, March 8, 2002 |
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Arts center construction begins Before long, Coweta residents will have a new home for the arts. The Coweta County School System conducted a groundbreaking ceremony for the central School Fine Arts Center project last Sunday. The school system's Fine Arts Center is being built on a site between Newnan Crossing and SummerGrove elementary schools, on Lower Fayetteville Road, which will also be the location of the city of Newnan's planned conference center and amphitheater, as well as a common building that will connect the arts center and conference center. The site is owned partially by the Coweta County School System and partially by the city of Newnan, with approximately 20 acres of the 40-acre site owned jointly by the two. The city and the school board also are sharing some development costs of the joint sites, such as the newly begun clearing of the project site. The school system's Fine Arts Center project will take 16 to 18 months to complete, and in the end will provide a performing arts center for all Coweta County schools and the community. The 48,000-sq. ft. facility will include an art gallery and meeting space, and a 999-seat performance auditorium with accompanying lighting, acoustics, fly system, shop and dressing room space. Southern A & E is the architectural firm for the arts center. The basic design for the center was taken from a similar arts center built recently by the Bartow County School System. For an overall campus plan, the city has used the Classic Center in Athens as a model, with a central pavilion connecting the fine arts center to the east and the future city conference center to the west, using decorative enclosed hallways. The arts center and future city projects will carry a common architectural theme. The center is the last project funded by a special sales tax approved by Coweta voters in 1997.
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