For about seven years, on the corner of Lake Street and University Avenue, sat a sign that read “Future home of the UW School of Music Performance Center.”
The sign was put up in anticipation of the UW-Madison School of Music’s new performance center for student musicians.
As funding stalled out, however, the sign continued to sit at the corner. With year after year passing by, speculation began as to whether or not the performance center would ever be built.
But with construction finally underway, the new School of Music performance center is in its concluding stages of going from a concept, to an actual physical space.
“We were certainly a victim of an economic downturn,” Susan Cook, director of the School of Music, said. “Now we are the beneficiaries of people starting to feel more confident in things and wanting to ensure that we have the spaces we need and can carry out the programs that we do.”
The performance center met its funding goal of $55.8 million in large part because of a donation made by the Mead Witter Foundation. The Wisconsin Rapids-based foundation has a long history throughout the state.
Founded in 1951, the foundation is funded through the earnings from endowments of George W. Mead and family members. Today, the foundation is dedicated to providing higher educational opportunities through the giving of grants.
Specifically, they focus their efforts within the state, promoting a wide variety of fields that benefit local residents and students. By stepping up with a $25 million donation in December 2015, the foundation ensured the university would get its performance center as planned.
The design for the new center has three main components, according to project manager Peter Heaslett: A rehearsal hall with glass windows which will allow people to observe practices from outside; a recital hall that will seat around 300 people; and a concert hall that will hold more than 675 seats while also housing over 100 musicians and a choir balcony. With these additions, the School of Music will be able to perform all of its concerts in a space that is built exclusively for them and their needs.
While normally the largest donation usually gets the naming rights to the building, as part of the agreement, the university would rename the music school “The Mead Witter School of Music,” and name the new concert hall inside the new performance center “The Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall.”
The reason for this was due in part to a previous agreement made with the Hamel Family of California, which made the first substantial donation of $15 million. With the original agreement, the university agreed to name the building “The Hamel Music Center.”
While the donation has been lauded within the university, it came at a time when the design team and the music school were going to move ahead with a new, smaller plan.
In the beginning stages, the school was quick to raise about half the desired amount. But after that, funding slowed down. An economy going through a recession put the full plan on hold, as donations for the project were not coming in.
“The project sat in a holding pattern because we weren’t ready to push the design any farther along, until more money was at hand,” Heaslett said. “It just seemed like it was too risky.”
With donor money freezing up and contributors becoming restless with the lack of progress being made, there was serious doubt as to whether the full project could be built. However, a choice was made to “split the project,” Heaslett said.
By focusing on the recital hall and the rehearsal room, the design team could ensure that some of the project would be complete, while leaving hope that the large concert hall would be constructed in the future. While there were a lot of decisions and compromises, eventually, everything was “figured out,” Heaslett said.
With the large donation however, the design team and the School of Music were able to go back to the original design and incorporate the large concert hall into their plans. Now with construction bids finally closed, and fences finally erected on location, Cook and Heaslett expect construction to conclude sometime before the fall semester starts, with the grand opening hopefully coming at the end of 2018.
With the reality in sight, the performance center will create a new level of “energy and excitement,” according to Cook.
“The word that gets thrown around a lot is transformative, and I think it absolutely will be transformative,” Cook said. “It sends a message to students that music and the arts are valued on this campus, and if you come here as a student, you’re not going to be fighting for your space.”
