The debut of the Centennial Arts Center this year reflects a renewed commitment to the arts. As stated on the Concord Academy website, “The arts encourage us to question, engage with, and understand the world from different perspectives.” With this new space, students have expanded opportunities to do just that, putting CA’s investment into the program front and center.
The new building advertises a unique sentiment among many private schools– an equitable commitment to the arts in comparison to athletics. As Technical Director James Williston puts it, “It creates [a] space that is equal to space we have created before for sports... that allows us to have more ability to teach a wider variety of [subjects] more fully.” One of those subjects is technical theater — prior to the C.A.C., there weren’t the resources or space for the tech crew to create the elaborate sets that are now possible. The new workshop opens up opportunities for students to build skills and have hands-on experience, with a technical theater class now being offered.
This expansion in curriculum spans across many disciplines, with the ambitious new Sitcom Project being piloted this year. This course takes advantage of the new P3 space, which is equipped with green screen technology and can support complete sets and multi-camera film equipment. As theater teacher Shelley Bolman P’27 comments, “It gives us the space to do all the things we were too cramped to do [previously].” One of the features the theater department fought for is the new blackbox theater, in which the seats can be retracted, giving more versatility to the space. As he puts it, “It will allow us to be a lot more experimental artistically [...] From the acting perspective, […] it raises the level of professionalism for the shows.”
When it came to the design of the building, multiple faculty members commented that they felt a strong effort was made to incorporate their opinions into the design process. Williston remarked: “We were very much heard all throughout the process… [though] once the ball starts rolling, it is harder to have input from this side.”
The C.A.C. centralizes the Arts Department, and as Production Manager, Deanna Stuart comments, “It has us seeing each other much more. In the past… the actors didn't see the musicians, the musicians didn't see the tech crew… [now] we see each other all day.” The building is not only a new resource for the arts, but it also serves as a common space that had not previously existed for these disciplines. As you walk up the stairs to the C.A.C., you’ll see students carrying instruments, practicing lines, and shooting footage—there is no missing how integral to the CA community the arts are.