Lexington School District Two debuts new Performing Arts Center with 1,500-seat theatre
WEST COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — After 10 years in the making, Lexington School District Two’s new Performing Arts Center on Platt Springs Road is officially open.
Faculty and staff held a ribbon cutting ceremony inside the building’s two story grand lobby to mark the occasion.
After taking in the entrance to the 103,000 square-foot-facility, guests enter into the new 1,500 seat theatre — complete with a full orchestra pit, manual rigging, overhead catwalks, four dressing rooms, a green room, and catering kitchen.
“We are so excited, we could not be more proud. This has been for sure a 10-year process since the bond referendum passed in 2014. And this is our last project on the bond referendum and I’m really just not sure if there are words that can explain how you feel when you walk in this building. Extraordinary. Fabulous,” says Chair of Lexington Two’s Board of Trustees, Linda Allford Wooten.
The state-of-the-art facility will also be rented out for conferences, conventions, and community events but will primarily be used for performances, events, and district wide occasions for the students.
“They’ve never seen anything like this. They’ve never been in anything like this, and now this becomes the standard for our students to be able to practice in a facility like this and be able to perform in a facility like this. None of them have ever had that opportunity so it’s gonna be really really cool to see that, and to really hear about their experiences from their point of view and that’s kind of what it’s all about,” says Sam Masone, principal of Busby Creative Arts Academy.
Allford-Wooten says the district’s goal is to offer students a full circle of the best education, administration, athletics, and arts opportunities that it can.
“And then when you are able to open up a fine arts center to showcase the arts in your school, I think you have completed the circle. And I think that’s what Lexington Two has done today,” she says.
The $52 million Performing Arts Center (which includes the district office) is the final phase of the 10-year, $225 million bond referendum that was approved by voters in 2014.
