The Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center (SKyPAC) in downtown Bowling Green has announced a multi-million dollar expansion. The center plans to build a two-story annex facility with funding through the Kentucky General Assembly. The $8.5 million dollar facility will house rehearsal spaces, a workshop for set designs, increased storage, and administrative offices.
Jeff Reed, President of Arts of Southern Kentucky, said Thursday that the organization has grown over the past several years and a new building was needed to keep pace of the organization's growth.
“We have more than tripled the activities going on in this building in the last three years," Reed said. "This year we have about 75 events.”
Reed said that many people were responsible for obtaining the funding through the General Assembly. Reed was presented with a check for the funds from a number of state lawmakers from the southern Kentucky region who supported the funding the state House and Senate.
The building site is adjacent to SkyPAC, on a plot owned by Warren County. The expansion was approved earlier this year by the Warren County Fiscal Court.
An increase in public performances, an expanded educational programming, and multiple concert and entertainment events made additional space a priority need for SKyPAC. The new facility is expected meet those needs and allow for expanded programming once it's complete.
Gary Ransdell, the Chair of Arts of Southern Kentucky and former president of Western Kentucky University, said the project will generate thousands of dollars in potential revenue in Bowling Green.
"It’s going to give us dimensions that we have not had before and make things not only convenient but profitable in terms of how we can manage this building and this space to not only entertain and please our community but to be financially strong as well,” Ransdell said.
More details on the building construction and groundbreaking will be announced later this year.
