On Friday, October 12, the Winter Visual and Performing Arts Center officially opened after two years, six months, and twelve days since its groundbreaking. The VPAC is the new home of the arts at Millersville and the entire community is talking about it.
The VPAC has a dance studio, state-of-the-art recording studio suite, scenery workshop for theater productions, an art gallery, ensemble and percussion rooms, music library, a 40-station piano lab, and three performance spaces, which includes a 300-seat concert hall, 150-seat recital hall, and a 650-seat performance hall.
But that’s not all.
Sure, the building is visually stunning, but the opportunities that are now available to the students and the community are endless. Creativity, innovation, and engagement are the characteristics surrounding the arts at Millersville – this new building will enhance how the students learn, what they learn, and how they will take their knowledge and create opportunities for themselves.
At the opening, Ms. Laura Kendall, Director of the WVPAC, said that the building was “second to none” and she’s hoping it will help tell the “incredible story of the arts at Millersville.”
Along with Kendall, Dr. Vilas Prabhu, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Diane Umble, Interim Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Paula Batdorf, a Music Education major, Stephen Kepchar, Chair of the Capital Campaign, Gregory Lefever, Chair of the Fundraising Committee for the VPAC, and Dr. Francine McNairy, President of Millersville University gave brief speeches expressing their excitement and gratitude.
Shawn Lee, Music Education, Peter Ferraiolo, Speech Communication, and Mariah Manas, Speech Communication, completed the ribbon cutting ceremony, which was followed by a performance by the Marauder Men’s Glee Club. “O, Millersville We Sing Thy Praises” was written by Dr. Mark A. Boyle, Director of Choral Activities, for this occasion.
An open house and reception followed the ceremony and self-guided tours was another option for the public to experience the VPAC. Throughout the halls, classrooms, and performance spaces, students and faculty were available to discuss their new space and what they had planned for the coming months at Millersville. Dr. Jennifer Jester and student workers lead a recording studio workshop, Eleanor Isaacson led a ballroom dancing exhibition, and a master class on the Yamaha DCFX Disklavier was demonstrated by student Sharon Ho and Alex Kobrin, Yamaha guest artist from New York City.