Setting the Stage: Cape Fear Community College Wilson Center

SETTINGTHESTAGE Cape Fear Community College Wilson Center

Georgia O’Keefe once said,

To create one’s in any of the arts takes .

Her assessment was correct, if not comprehensive. To participate in the arts today requires a good deal more than strength of character: years of training, rehearsal spaces, sheet music, darkrooms, ballet shoes, canvases, mentors, a supportive community, stages, footlights, and an audience.

The Wilmington community, always enthusiastic about cultural opportunities, had plenty of aspiring artists as well as arts patrons hungry for bigger, more diverse arts offerings. What the community did not have, however, was the right space to accommodate either group.

Cape Fear Community College had a strong performing arts program, but its diverse departments were scattered all over campus and lacked cohesion. The college had dreams of turning its fine arts programs into a top-tier curriculum with a leading-edge facility to support it. Eastern North Carolina also needed a new performing arts center, one that could host world-class cultural events for citizens across the region and draw performers and patrons from far and wide.

Working together, the college and the community built this dream from the ground up, with New Hanover County voters providing $41 million from a Community College bond referendum in 2008, and private donors raising an additional $4 million. Design efforts with the LS3P team were underway by 2010, and ground broke on the building in 2013. The Wilson Center opened to students and the public in 2015.

It is truly exciting to see such an enthusiastic response to this venue, which will add to the already stellar reputation of the greater Wilmington area in terms of becoming a cultural center in southeastern North Carolina.

-Shane Fernando Director of the Wilson Center

From the earliest discussions with former College President Dr. Eric McKeithan, the project came with a set of well-defined “critical success factors.” First and foremost, the facility needed to support an exceptional educational experience for CCFC’s students, raising the level of expectations for both the quality of the curriculum and the caliber of cultural opportunities in the area. Because the Wilson Center’s site occupied a major gateway into downtown, the design also needed to create a landmark for the campus and community. Not least, the entire project team intended the Wilson Center to be a major community destination, both a source of civic pride and catalyst for new opportunities.

From the outside in, the Wilson Center was an instant civic and campus landmark. The design team drew upon the longstanding tradition of theatergoing as an experience of both seeing and being seen, and the building’s form and transparency work together to engage the street and welcome guests inside. The view into the triple-height lobby, visible behind a 50’ transparent glass wall illuminated from within at night, entices guests along a carefully orchestrated processional path, with the space animated by patrons arriving and mingling before a show.

A CIVIC LANDMARK

The exterior palette of precast architectural concrete, aluminum, brick, and metal panel cladding ties into the existing context of CCFC’s urban campus, and provides a welcoming street presence and an active, energized facade.

A FRONT PORCH FOR THE COMMUNITY

Inside, the academic and performance spaces provide a state-of-the-art professional theater experience for students and guests alike. The Wilson Center boasts three performance spaces: a grand performance hall seating over 1,500 people with two tiers of balconies and two levels of box seats; a studio theater seating just over 100; and an outdoor conservatory courtyard accommodating up to 600. The 40,000 square feet of instructional space includes a scene shop, classrooms, rehearsal spaces, and studios for dance, music, and sculpture. Views of the Cape Fear River, generous windows, and natural light in the studios and classrooms provide inspiration for the over 10,000 students and more than 70 faculty and staff members who use the building each year.

At the heart of the design, the “arts courtyard� conservatory space is designed for multifunctional use. This open-air space supports events, intimate performances, exhibits, receptions, and pre-function socializing.

Theater design comes with a particular set of complexities requiring careful attention such as sightlines, acoustics, flyspaces, a hydraulic orchestra pit, and unique support spaces. The design team worked closely with the client, end users, and engineers to accommodate the requirements of a professional quality performance space. Thoughtful detailing of the slope of the auditorium, adjustable oak shell panels at the stage, introduction and control of natural light, catwalks, and a sound mixing cockpit all prepared the auditorium for everything from symphony performances to Broadway tours.

The back-of-house spaces are as critical to the success of a performance as the auditorium.

Deep 25’ stage wings, custom lighting for dressing rooms, safe circulation for rigging and catwalks, musical instrument storage, and Actors’ Equity-approved facilities contribute to a safe, enjoyable performance for spectators, students, and professional artists.

Since the Wilson Center’s gala opening in October, 2015, the new facility has fulfilled a decadesold community vision and brought new life to the culture of the region. The investment in the arts is already reaping dividends in terms of both economic and cultural benefits. By the end of the Wilson Center’s first full year, attendance figures had totaled nearly 85,000 patrons from 48 states and all of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Ticket sales had reached nearly $3.5 million, with close to $270,000 returning to the community in the form of sales taxes. CCFC President Amanda Lee cherishes a benefit that is less quantifiable, but no less important, explaining, “I think we’re all better people culturally from attending the shows. It has just been truly the gem that we were all hoping it would be.”

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