GREENSBORO, NC (WFMY) -- Construction crews have started building phase 2 of the Stephen Tanger Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Greensboro.
When it's completed it will be the centerpiece of Greensboro's Cultural Arts Master Plan.
"We love to come to check this mixture of the outdoors and being downtown in the city," said Jessamyn Czajkowski who lives in High Point. Czajkowski spends a lot of time with her 3 children at LeBauer park. She also loves attending events at the downtown park.
"I am a huge music fan, I love music of many different genres and sounds, so any kind of great jazz."
But Czajkowski said she has had to travel to places like Raleigh, Durham or Charlotte in the past, to enjoy some of such performances. Now that the Tanger Performing Arts Center has started to take shape right across the park, Czajkowski is delighted.
"Absolutely! I'm looking forward to it. Anything that kind of brings people together to have more access to more art and culture, you know we are all about it," added Czajkowski.
The state-of-the-art, 3000-seat multipurpose performance venue to downtown will cost exactly $84.7 million. But with a projected 150 events per year, it is an investment that promises to bring new life and new money to downtown.
"It's certainly going to draw traffic to Downtown Greensboro and the city," said Henry Fourrier, the President, and C.E.O of the Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"Typically when people go out to the theater, they go out to dinner before or after," added Fourrier. There are about 20 months left in construction with the center set to open in early 2020. The city is splitting the cost with private donors. You can follow the progress of the construction on the Tanger Center website. Click on the link to 'construction camera'.
Meanwhile, from June 6 to 9, the Greensboro Cultural Arts Master Plan (GCAMP) Task Force is hosting a series of community forums to get feedback and other ideas on the current arts and culture scene in Greensboro and to develop an Arts Master Plan. The plan process, titled "Creative Greensboro" is a collaborative effort to advance and support the creative life of Greensboro.
The first of 16 community engagement events holds Wednesday from 11 a.m to 12:30 p.m at Well Spring Continuing Care Retirement Community, 4100 Well Spring Dr. Later in the day, Mayor Nancy Vaughan hosts a "Community Voices Event" from 5:30-7 pm at the Van Dyke Performance Space in the Greensboro Cultural Center. There will be door prizes, food, entertainment, & children’s activities.
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