SAVE RIDGETOP AUDITORIUM!
Hello, arts lovers and community-minded people. Parents from Ridgetop Elementary (on AISD's shutdown list) want to ensure that the darling 320-seat auditorium in the school does not meet the bulldozer. The parents suggested to AISD that the auditorium and campus be saved and turned into an arts center for the community. THAT SHOULD TOTALLY HAPPEN, RIGHT? LET’S SHOW UP to back up the parents and express our willingness to be part of the repurposing of this precious campus, theatregoers/makers!Please join your theatregoing and theatremaking community on Tuesday, May 19th at 5:30 pm at the school's front door (5005 Caswell Ave, Austin, TX 78751 near Airport & 51st Street). We will hand out signs and organize ourselves with a few talking points before attending the community+AISD meeting inside the school at 6 p.m. The school has received the "Surplus" designation, community feedback was gathered, and now the score will be discussed. If we show up to reinforce the parents' feedback (and give a bit of our own), perhaps this raked floor can live on as a performance and community meeting space. A room with a raked floor is a treasure! We can't let them destroy this.Photos borrowed from Facilitron, AISD's space rental platform. Thanks, Facilitron!PLEASE get yourself a "free ticket" here so we know to expect you, and can communicate with this whole group of community activists most efficiently. THANK YOU.Thank you for joining us to SAVE & REPURPOSE RIDGETOP FOR THE COMMUNITY!~ SharronP.S.* It's pretty obvious how theatre companies could make exquisite use of the Auditorium. Pop out that dropped ceiling, add grid and booth, and find out if we can recenter the stage... or maybe call it, "TheOffCenter2" in honor of local theatre history? Whadyawanna bet that brick wall was added for some inane reason by a person wearing brown poly sansabelts who thought it wouldn't matter... Yaaaa, that wall might wanna come back down...The basketball court, playground, and classrooms offer a real potential for the childcare center our community has always wished for to operate as a matinee drop-off service for artist-parents and audiences -- there are many performance venues within a 10-minute drive!Covered basketball court could make a good practice facility for Zilker Hillside Theatre shows!The Gym has potential for aerialists and/or a black box, or a true scene-painting shop that local theatre companies could share.Imagine rehearsals and meetings and classes (or costume sales or community social dances...) in the Cafeteria.The Library could be transformed into a recording studio. Shhhhh!Classrooms could be adapted into rehearsal studios, singing or acting training studios, theatre company offices, or a centralized costume library, millinery studio, costume-building shop (with after-school sewing classes offered)...SEE YOU AT RIDGETOP ON TUESDAY, MAY 19 AT 5:30PM! Thank you for caring.The campus could be run by collaborating nonprofits as a thriving arts center. And/or, this campus could be transformed into an INCREDIBLE live-work facility offering city-subsidized artist housing and rehearsal/performance space... The possibilities are endless. Have additional ideas? Please send them to [email protected].
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3628380-0
