Mayor, Hoover Arts Council keep exploring arts center idea

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato hasn’t given up on the idea of the city building a performing arts center, even though no funding has materialized.

Brocato recently pulled together representatives from the new Hoover Arts Council, Hoover City Council, Hoover City Schools and the Hoover Public Library to see an architect’s presentation of designs of fine arts centers around the Birmingham area and state.

Paulette Pearson, chairwoman of the Arts Council, said no money has been identified to build such a facility in Hoover, but city leaders still are exploring the idea and gathering information about what such a facility might entail.

The next step is to hire a consultant to figure out where such a facility might go, how much it would cost, how it would be designed and options for how it might be run, Pearson said.

One option to be considered is a potential partnership with Hoover City Schools, with both entities providing funding, Pearson said.

Hoover schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy, who attended the meeting with architects in August, said the school system is always interested in the arts and willing to explore possibilities.

The architects presented “a lot of cool things,” but those things also come with “a lot of cool price tags,” Murphy said.

The school district has a lot of capital projects that are needed, including the immediate conversion of the former Riverchase Middle School into the Riverchase Career Connection Center and classroom additions at four schools over the next six years, she said.

“We’d love to wave the wand and get an arts center in place, but it’s very preliminary right now,” Murphy said. “We’re going to have to look at all of our priorities … and what we can and what we can’t do.”

Some of the Arts Council members said they have concerns about a joint venture with the school system.

“If it becomes a joint venture, the schools will take it over for whatever projects they want, and the city will get the leftovers. That’s the concern of a lot of people in the arts community,” Arts Council member Linda Chastain said. “This ought to be a city project run by city people. It needs to be accessible to everybody in the city.”

Tricia Simpson, another Arts Council member and operations manager for the Birmingham Boys Choir, said the Hoover school system needs better facilities for performances and deserves to get a fair share of usage. 

She added that the process should include talking to school faculty members involved in the arts and determining what their needs are.

Pamela Sayle, another Arts Council member who owns the Alabama Dance Academy in Hoover, said it would be important to make sure the community has equal access, but she thinks that’s doable.

Pearson said a consultant would be able to help examine management and usage options as well. While money to build a facility hasn’t been identified, it’s long overdue, Pearson said.

“Look at the size of this city. It’s ridiculous that we don’t already have it. It’s time,” she said. “It’s a dream, but maybe it’s a dream that could come true. There are a lot of people in this city that believe the arts have been neglected. They want there to be some attention paid to the arts, and you can’t blame them.”