Arts and education facility rises at Mat-Su College

Watching a ballet can evoke magic and mystery. Lights, swelling music and an array of diaphanous costumes concoct a new world and create a sense of danger, exhilaration, despair, splendor.

"The snow scene out of The Nutcracker, I would like to have cool lighting-blues, midnights," said Sonja Babcock, describing a setting she envisions for children who learn to dance at her business, Sonja's Studio.

A glass-skinned structure rising at Mat-Su College will make it possible for parents of Babcock's students to skip the usual 80-mile round trip to Anchorage for performances. If work on the UAA Valley Center for Arts and Learning proceeds as planned, Babcock says, the children she trained to perform as little sugar plum fairies, mice and candy canes in Tchaikovsky's ballet will be the first dancers to pirouette across its stage.

Creating a community square

The Mat-Su Borough holds the 76th spot among the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties with more than 10,000 residents-its population swelling from 88,995 to 95,192 between 2010-2013-yet Valley residents wanting to gather or attend political or informational events generally use sports-intended facilities like the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, Government Peak Chalet, MTA Events Center, AT&T Sports Center or squeeze into the quaint-but-tiny Palmer Depot. They perch on steel folding seats in crowded school auditoriums for band concerts or attend events in Anchorage-and frequently, since they're there, that's where they'll grab a bite or shop.

Mat-Su College Director Talis Colberg said voters in 2010 approved $31 million for construction projects affecting UAA's Mat-Su campus-including $20 million for the 508-seat theater facility, scheduled to open in December, as well as another $3.5 million to expand space for the college's nursing and paramedic programs so the UAA Valley Cohort nursing program can double in size and $7 million for a water project the college and the City of Palmer are jointly launching.

"I cannot speak to the reasoning why [the theater] was placed on the ballot by my predecessor [Dennis Clark]," Colberg said of the Center, "but we now see it as a great opportunity to be both an educational facility as well as a community square, as called for by the University of Alaska long-range master plan. We already have good reason to believe it will be a busy and popular venue in this Valley."

Mat-Su College serves more than 2,000 students per semester and stands on 950 acres off Trunk Road, between Palmer and Wasilla. The college can only house about 120 people in one venue-its cafeteria.

Kumin Associates Inc. designed the structure, which also contains classrooms for drama and music, dressing rooms, instrument storage, scene shop, control room, spotlight booth, loading dock, costume shop and green room.

Its theatrical equipment includes stage rigging and lighting systems, sound reinforcement and playback, production communications systems, an audience assistive listing system, orchestra enclosure and adjustable elements to modify the acoustic response of the room for music or spoken-word events like poetry readings.

Matt Sale, the college's theater director, says the theater building is about halfway finished. "We were told the general contractor would be done with basic construction by the end of September," he said. "Then the theater consultants will go in to install the theater equipment."

Sale says seats in the theater easily can be removed and replaced to accommodate more wheelchairs, or soundboards needed for larger-scale productions.

"I think it's a very manageable and good size," he said.

The college is seeking recommendations for a name for the new building and will accept suggestions until 5 p.m., June 16.

The community will be able to use the college as a cultural hub, Colberg said in a previous interview, with the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

"Even though we've been right in the core area of the Valley, no one but students have had a reason to come here," he said. "This will make the campus more prominent as a place where the community can gather, especially with the improvements to Trunk Road."

Colberg said administrators at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center have expressed interest in the college being able to expand its nursing and paramedic programs. "The health field is a high-demand profession," he said, in the Frontiersman interview.

Growing fresh connections

Babcock learned when she moved from Cordova 15 years ago that Mat-Su didn't have a community auditorium equipped for performing-arts productions.

"I was really shocked-thunderstruck-that we did not have one place," she said. "If you go to Fairbanks, there are eight auditoriums. Glennallen only has 1,200 people but it has a beautiful auditorium in the school. Valdez and Cordova have amazing convention centers. Anchorage has wonderful facilities. Even Talkeetna has a community auditorium. People here want to stay in the Valley, see a performance and go to restaurants in the Valley afterward."

Her students have always had to make do with gym floor lighting and music from sound systems Babcock purchased herself. Dancers can't waft in from the wings when there are no wings to waft in from.

Babcock feels grateful to the schools throughout Mat-Su and Anchorage that made room and offered audiences for her dancers all these years, but feels thrilled about what lies ahead.

"I think people in the Valley will be astounded," she said. "What an upgrade! A sound system, proper flooring, wings, lights that will accent certain spots in the dance. This will be a shared space everyone could use. We could have amazing concerts there. Imagine the community symphonies we could have. It's comfortable for seating, brings up a production's level of professionalism just by having a proper facility. This is something we do need in our community."

Written by Tracy Kalytiak, UAA Office of University Advancement.