WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | Old school becoming mecca for art

Old school becoming mecca for art

August 14, 2008

OPELIKA, Ala. (WTVM) - An East Alabama community is bringing an old elementary school back to life as a community cultural center. A collaboration of groups in Opelika are renovating the Miriam Brown School in Opelika's historic district.

At the corner of West Johnson and Glenn sits a a building most people in this area forgot about until now. "We're really going full force now to get this project underway," Barbara Patton, Envision Opelika said. Patton works with one of the five groups teaming up to turn the old elementary school into a mecca for the arts.

"You can have art classes, dance classes, just a multitude of things with this," Patton said. The design effort is being headed up by the Department of Architecture at Auburn University. Designers are refurbishing the wood floors, expanding the windows, and raising the height of the ceiling. "We have a lot of small performance groups interested. We thought this would be a place to come. It's also a great conference center, its got an auditorium that can have general assemblies and break out groups," Patton said.

The Alabama State Council on the Arts provided a $90,000 matching grant to help pay for the renovations. "It's a flat floor auditorium that lends itself to a lot of activities - theatre in the round, general assemblies, and then its got a great stage". It's a historic place where the community hopes history-making performances and art will be on display for artisans and art lovers alike. "I'm not an artist, I'm just a participant in the audience," Patton said.