Walton Arts Center Closes For Roof Repairs

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FAYETTEVILLE -- The Walton Arts Center will be closed for several weeks while workers with CDI Contractors repair the center's roofing system.

According to a news release and email sent to arts center patrons Monday, engineers working on an upcoming $23 million expansion and renovation of the center discovered significant problems last week with the trusses above the stage in Baum Walker Hall.

The trusses were set to be strengthened as part of the upcoming expansion project. According to the email from arts center CEO Peter Lane, engineers "discovered that the current load on the existing trusses appeared to be excessive."

"This apparent deficiency meant that Baum Walker Hall might not be safe for public occupancy," Lane said.

Few performances were scheduled this summer because of plans to begin the renovation. The problems prompted arts center officials to reschedule two performances last week. Comedian Ron White and singer-songwriter Margo Rey had been scheduled Friday and Saturday in the 1,201-seat Baum Walker Hall and 165-seat Starr Theater, respectively. Both shows were consolidated and moved to the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers on Saturday. Arts Center officials are working to reschedule a performance of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" parody "Spank! Harder," which was scheduled June 17.

The Arts Center's box office will be set up at Nadine Baum Studios, 505 W. Spring St., while the center is closed. All other activities that were planned in June and July, such as Trike Theatre's summer camp, will be relocated.

"The building will remain closed until we shore up the existing trusses and repairs can be completed," Lane said in the email to patrons. "We expect all work to be completed by late summer or early fall of 2014 in time to begin our next season."

The next performances scheduled in Baum Walker Hall are Aug. 29-30 as part of the Fayetteville Roots Festival.

Erin Rogers, interim public relations director, said Monday she wasn't sure if the festival will be affected.

"We're still kind of in the beginning stages of trying to evaluate what the next steps are," Rogers said.

"In the next day or two, we hopefully will have a better idea of what it's going to take," Terri Trotter, chief operating officer for the arts center, said.

The center's 2014-15 Broadway series is scheduled to begin Oct. 21 with the musical comedy "Nice Work If You Can Get It."

"We believe this will have little, if any, impact on the (2014-15) season," Trotter said.

Construction of a new lobby along Dickson Street was expected to begin this summer. Work on an expanded Starr Theater and back-of-house construction, including the trusses, was to start in summer 2015.

Members of the Arts Center's governing board are set to receive a construction update at their quarterly meeting at 4 p.m. today. The meeting, normally held in the Arts Center's main building at 495 W. Dickson St., has been moved to Nadine Baum Studios, Trotter said.

NW News on 06/24/2014

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