Performing Arts Center (1968)
Though student residence halls construction was the main part of the 1960s campus expansion, classrooms were added as well. A need was fulfilled for the burgeoning music and theatre programs when St. Cloud State proposed, received funding, and built the Performing Arts Center.
Performing Arts Center, 1980s?
Funding
Thanks to bills passed by the 1963 state legislature, $1.7 million was appropriated to construct a fine arts building. Additional funding was provided by the federal government, which pushed the funds available to $2.5 million.
Contractors and Construction
The building was designed by Walter Butler and Engineering Company and Haarstick, Lundgren and Associates. Contracts were awarded to Gunnar I. Johnson Company (general) for $1.36 million, Granite City Electric (electrical) for $275,904, Sporleders Heating and Plumbing (mechanical) for $211,450, and Weidner's Plumbing (ventilation) for $187,000.
According to a press release of September 29, 1966, the nearly 76,500 square foot building would feature a 500-seat main theatre with a turntable stage to permitted scenery to be changed on one side while a performance was happening on the other. Also included were a box office, concessions area, check room, orchestra pit, scene shop, dressing rooms, wardrobe room, makeup room, modern light and sound control system, and a studio theatre with 200 portable seats. In addition, there was a debate room, recording and listening room, and choral and band rehearsal rooms, which have access to a 200-seat recital-lecture hall. There also would be a large piano classroom, 20 piano practice rooms, faculty offices, and a radio-television studio with a control and equipment room and a radio room.
Construction, 1967-1968
Naming
On November 20, 1967, the state college board named the structure “Performing Arts Building". It is unknown why "Building" was dropped for "Center". The January 12, 1969 dedication program calls the building "Performing Arts Center". As with other campus buildings constructed in the 1960s, another name proposed for the Performing Arts Center. At the January 11, 1966, meeting of the state college board, a name was suggested for the yet-to-be constructed building - “George F. Budd Hall”. The resolution was tabled for unknown reasons. Budd served as St. Cloud State president from 1952 to 1965.
Opening and Dedication
The Performing Arts Center opened in April 1968 with the "Region V" high school music contest featuring 1,500 area high school musicians.
On January 12, 1969, the Performing Arts Center was dedicated. The dedication address was given by former St. Cloud State president George Budd. Budd left St. Cloud State in 1965 to become president of Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now known as Pittsburg State University).
The building permanently closed after the spring 2025 semester.
Architecture
This monolithic building shouts brutalism. The term “brutalist” refers to “beton brut,” or raw concrete, the common material used for the brutalist style. Its concrete construction represents the Cold War Era when citizens built bunkers to protect themselves from nuclear attack.
The blueprints for the Performing Arts Center as it looked when it opened in 1968 are available in the University Archives' Search portal.
Architect's rendering, 1967
Construction, 1967
Additional sources:
- 1963 Minnesota state legislature law, Chapter 839
- Press release, June 3, 1963
- Press release, April 10, 1968
- Robert Wick remarks, Performing Arts Center dedication, January 12, 1969
- George Budd dedication address, Performing Arts Center dedication, January 12, 1969