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North Coast Current

News online for Encinitas, Calif.

North Coast Current

News online for Encinitas, Calif.

North Coast Current

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Palomar College marks opening of arts complex

Palomar College celebrated the grand opening of its $24 million performing arts complex with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by tours and multidisciplinary performances featuring faculty members at the newly renovated Howard Brubeck Theatre on the main campus in San Marcos.

Held on Sept. 20, the event marked the completion of a project that took $24 million to finance, eight years to plan and more than two years to construct. Designed by San Diego-based Architects Mosher Drew, the 100,000-square-foot complex integrates teaching, practice, exhibition and performance spaces.

“For the first time since the Kennedy administration, we went to the voters in 2006 with a bond measure and said to them that this was necessary to transform this into the college they need to meet the demands of the community in the future,” said Robert Deegan, superintendent and president of the Palomar Community College District. “The people stepped up and wholeheartedly supported it.”

The new facility houses two performance venues, two large dance studios, outdoor performance spaces, an acting studio, black box theater, costume and scenery shops, makeup stations and dressing rooms.

The redesigned Howard Brubeck Theatre, which opened in 1979, features enhanced acoustics, moving lights, computerized show controls, digital audio mixers and a new lobby and box office.

“I’m excited that we’re able to take this brick structure that was never acoustically sound, and turn it into a multipurpose venue,” said Norma Miyamoto, dean of Arts, Media, Business and Computer Science at Palomar. “I truly believe that students learn from dynamic faculty, and having this crown jewel, we’ll be able to recruit more outstanding faculty for our program.”

In attendance were College board officials, staff and students both past and present as well as special guests and community members.

District Governing Board President Nancy Chadwick said that the passing of Proposition M, a facilities bond that provided $694 million to repair and upgrade educational facilities within the college district, was an immense “OK” to do the kinds of things the board wanted to do. She added that the college district is one of the oldest in California and encompasses an area twice the size of Rhode Island.

“This is more than a renaissance, it’s a rebirth of the best kind,” she said. “Because all of the students should have the opportunity to come and do what they want to do for their life’s work, even if they have to do it several times.”

Dr. Ellen Weller, music instructor at the college for the past eight years and director of the Palomar Symphony Orchestra, said that immediately upon entering the building, staff began putting together new interactive programs for students and the community.

“The space itself is making us feel more creative and collaborative,” Weller said. “It connects the past with the future. Performing arts live in the present, builds on the past, and preserve the future; and this is what we live for. It’s a space to do our thing.”

Joanne Terry, a resident of Lake San Marcos, said that she’s been a supporter of the college’s performing arts programs for many years. Terry said that Palomar has maintained a tremendous reputation for putting on well-performed theatrical presentations that are experimental in nature and very affordable.

“The theater looks terrific,” she said. “I’m confident that everything they’re doing here is state-of-the art and I’m very impressed.”

More information about performances at the Howard Brubeck Theatre can be found at www.palomarperforms.com or by calling 760-744-1150, ext. 2453.

Manny Lopez is a North County freelance writer

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Palomar College marks opening of arts complex