Major upgrades and improvements planned for Neel Performing Arts Center in Bradenton

MANATEE -- Some major improvements are in store for the Neel Performing Arts Center at the State College of Florida Bradenton campus.

Over the next two summers, college officials plan to replace and upgrade all the rigging in the performing arts center auditorium, and to replace all its seats.

The cost is expected to be a bit more than $1.3 million. The current rigging and seating have been in place for nearly a half-century -- since 1966, when the center was first built.

"It's well overdue," said Chris Wellman, SCF's director of facilities planning and public safety.

The renovations and improvements are divided into three separate projects. The first one was completed at a cost of $85,000 this past summer, when the hydraulic system that lowers part of the stage to create an orchestra pit was repaired.

Wellman recently received approval from the college's board of trustees for next summer's project, which will involve replacing backstage rigging for an estimated $500,000.

That's the equipment and machinery that lets stagehands change sets, raise and lower curtains and hang lights.

Audiences who pay attention may notice that productions in the theater are capable of handling more complex sets, and may have quicker set changes, Wellman said, although he acknowledged that he's not involved with the artistic aspects of shows. The upgraded rigging should be safer too, he said. "There's going to be a lot of design work, and obviously a lot of engineering," he said. That's all backstage and will be more noticeable for stagehands and performers than for the general public. But audiences will definitely notice the third project, which Wellman said is planned for summer 2017.

That's when workers will remove the auditorium's 837 seats. They'll be replaced with new, wider seats.

While they're at it, workers will pull out and replace the auditorium's aging carpet. Besides making seating more comfortable, that project will drastically change the interior's look, he said. "We'll be looking at colors and aesthetics," he said. "There will be a whole color palette we'll be looking at." Federal guidelines have changed in the past 49 years, and now require seats to be a few inches wider than the auditorium's current seats.

Even though those the new seats will be wider, Wellman said, college officials are hoping to find ways to retain the seating capacity. "We're going to push the envelope to see if we can keep the seating as close to what it is now as we can," Wellman said. "We might be able to add a row in the back, or add seats to the end of rows," The cost of replacing the seats and carpeting is expected to be about $750,000, he said. The expenditure hasn't been officially approved yet, but Wellman said he expects it will pass.

The money for the repairs to the stage lift system came from a state fund for repairs. The seating and rigging will be paid out of the college's capital improvement fund.

The repairs and improvements are being scheduled for the summer months so they don't interfere with the center's programming, Wellman said.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Major upgrades and improvements planned for Neel Performing Arts Center in Bradenton ."