By Tom Ackerman
Hancher Auditorium gave the community a glimpse of more performing arts to come with its one year countdown celebration last Saturday afternoon, held at the new building’s site on the West side of campus.
The event: “Drawing Closer,” ran from 11:00 – 3:00 on August 22 with chalk art for the kids, face painting, and balloon animals on hand, as well as periodic performances by the Squonk Opera, a musical group known for its eccentric visual and auditory displays.
As a community, the rebuilding holds special meaning as it represents the revival of a city once tested by the drastic flood in 2008.
“I think the opening of this facility and all of [the other arts buildings] will be really important symbolic and also practical gestures to show we are close to fully recovered,”Hancher Programming Director Jacob Yarrow said. “They’ll be some of the last university projects to come back from the flood.”
While the flood that devastated the area was nearly eight years ago, there are still signs of repair needed, with Hancher being a part of a bigger campaign, Yarrow said.
In addition to the new Hancher site, other arts facilities are being built including the school of music has a new facility and the new art building. Those three buildings are a part of the art campus re-do and a part of a big $450 million campaign, and should all be finished in a year, Yarrow said.
In the midst of the reconstruction, Hancher continued to present shows in other rented out venues or with those in partnership with the facility.
“We have a couple of outdoor shows to start here, but we’ll do shows in the Englert theater, in space place, in the theater building, [and in] the riverside recital hall…We function as a presenter without a facility,” Yarrow siad.
The building itself was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, a well regarded company that is known for several landmarks across the globe including the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, which were the tallest buildings in the world from 1988 to 2004.
“There were 59 applications for the design architect and we had a committee that brought that down to 11. [We then brought that down to 4] and interviewed 4 people. Pelli Clarke Pelli was the choice. They’ve done an excellent job and we’re very happy with it,” Hancher Executive Director Charles Swanson said.
The funding for such an extensive operation came from several sources in addition to revenue from the ongoing performances, according to Yarrow. “[It came from] FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Association), from the university, from the state of Iowa, and from a lot individuals and corporations that were very generous during our fundraising campaign to make it all work.”
For now, community members and staff alike excitedly await the opening of Hancher, which is set for next September.
“We got here as it [the flood] was receding and they were just starting to recover. It’s been amazing [to see the recovery process],” said Phoebe Simon of Coralville, who attended the event with her family.
Shows will continue to be presented, though the last viewing will be in February, as to give the staff time to prepare for the opening.
“The staff will move in probably in April and then we’ll commission the building, where we have to check out the systems, the sounds, the lights, the rigging…we have to really make sure that before we can open the doors that we’re ready, so there’s a lot of preparation,” commented Swanson.
Though the reconstruction has been a long time in coming, Hancher staff remains positive as progress ensues, with many holding a personal connection to the original building built in the 1970s.
“For many of my colleagues who have lived through the flood and had to figure out what to do…the place they work got destroyed. Our lightning guy got married there and our marketing director…went to school here and worked as an usher when he was a student and met his wife on the usher staff,” Yarrow said.
