New chairs are a part of the modernization of Skipworth Performing Arts Center, and the Kosciusko Foundation for Excellence in Education is now raising funds for the $4 million upgrade of the Kosciusko Junior High School Auditorium through the sale of named chairs.Donors can contribute to the cause while honoring family members, classmates, teachers, civic clubs, churches or Sunday School classes. Brass plates will designate honorees on each seat. A chair can be selected and named with a $1,000 donation.“Kosciusko has been fertile ground for musicians through the years. The legendary band program has launched 100s of musicians into lifetime careers in music and has instilled into countless other students the attributes of hard work, perfection, precision, and high achievement. Universities, colleges, high schools, and church music programs across the South are populated by both former Kosciusko directors and students,” said Dr. Tim Alford of the KFEE. “Many former students, regardless of their career paths, have sited the former Kosciusko Band directors as formative in their life success.”To promote the fundraising efforts, biographies of directors and drum majors from Kosciusko’s band program will be highlighted regularly in local media, as shown below. You can look for these tributes regularly in The Star-Herald.The $4 million price tag for the project includes $270,000 the district spent to remove asbestos, repair the roof, and repaint the interior. District maintenance personnel have also worked on the carpets, seats and lighting.While the district’s Phase I project will get the doors open for the, the KFEE project aims to turn the auditorium into an area showpiece, able to host events and shows for the larger regional community.The group suggested naming the upgraded auditorium the Skipworth Performing Arts Center, after the man Alford said is an historic local figure with strong connections to the local arts scene. It was Skipworth who started a local band in the 1930s, begging for instruments during the depression. By 1934, the band was winning prizes.“He established the tradition of excellence in that band and in our community,” Alford said, adding that Skipworth even went to the Tipton Street School to encourage students there to take up playing musical instruments. “He had a profound influence on people’s lives here. This would be a tribute and conveys a community idea and not just one about the school district.”If completed as planned, the upgraded facility would likely see an enlarged lobby area for larger groups to convene by extending the building out into the current parking area a bit. The number of seats would likely be reduced slightly to accommodate more leg room and wider aisles. The current orchestra pit could be temporarily or permanently covered to allow for the stage front to be moved closer to the audience.You can learn more about the KFEE’s efforts to upgrade the KJHS auditorium — and purchase a named chair or otherwise donate to the effort — by visiting www.kfeems.org/projects.
