By Alyssa Shaw
Special to Lexington Two
WEST COLUMBIA, SC – The much-anticipated Lexington Two Performing Arts Center made its debut May 1, featuring an evening showcase in music, dance and theatre with hundreds of Lexington Two student performers.
Jim LeBlanc, executive director of the Lexington Two Performing Arts Center and fine arts programming, said it’s the first of many opportunities at the center that will develop skills and foster a love for the performing arts.
The state-of-the-art facility, located at 3211 Platt Springs Road in West Columbia, is
intended to be used by students, schools and local performers. The center is equipped with professional-grade rigging, lighting and sound systems. Additionally, the performance center features dressing rooms, storage spaces and a two-tier auditorium with seating for over 1,500 people.
“At the end of the day, how many kids growing up anywhere, but much less a district
with what 75–77 percent poverty, get to go and perform on a stage that rivals some of the best houses in the country?” LeBlanc said.
Airport High School student Avery McCree is a part of the orchestra and theatre departments. She says the center’s resources will help broaden the arts curriculum in the district.
“I think that having this space and having so many new resources is just going to up it so much," McCree said. "More students will be able to learn, they’ll be able to learn more because we have more things to teach and more space to teach it.”
Amanda Hines Wrona, the choral director at Airport High School, agrees that the center
will advance teaching and learning opportunities.
“When it comes to things like technical theater for instance, we’re able to teach students
how to work different fly systems,” Hines Wrona said. “We can bring in touring companies and we can bring in outside educational artists to help us educate our students on different types of theatre.”
LeBlanc hopes that the center will give students real-life experience with performance
and production that will prepare them for careers in the arts.
“This gives us an opportunity to bring students in to get certifications, develop
certifications in the state of South Carolina that aren’t currently available,” LeBlanc said. “It gives our students that hands-on experience with trained professionals.”
Hines Wrona believes that arts education is integral to students’ development.
“The arts are important to education because they are behind everything we do,” Hines
Wrona said. “The arts help make students and humans whole.”
According to LeBlanc, one of the biggest benefits of arts education is the confidence and community it instills in students.
“For kids to be able to get on a stage that size and have the bravery to do it takes a lot
of, you know, practice, discipline and confidence,” LeBlanc said. “But I can’t ever seem to get past the relational side of arts, whether it’s music or the visual art community, theatre production.”
The confidence gained from performing, LeBlanc said, will extend far beyond the
theater.
“Once they’ve started to build their courage and their confidence in that art area,”
LeBlanc said, “that success translates over to other areas of their life.”
McCree said the arts help keep her interested and engaged in school.
“If I didn’t have those things in my high school experience, I would just be so bored,”
McCree said. “And having those things help stimulate my brain and help raise my creativity levels.”
The Performing Arts Center is the final project of a bond referendum approved by voters
in 2014. LeBlanc sees the center as an opportunity to give back to those who invested in the project and the community.
“I do think it is kind of the turning of a page, a new era, a new chapter,” LeBlanc said.
“And so now we get to give back to that community of folks … by having this facility to teach up our kids and provide opportunities for them to experience the arts.”
Alyssa Shaw is a University of South Carolina Honors Journalism student.