PORT ANGELES — An announcement about the future of the Field Arts & Events Hall is planned at 4 p.m. Thursday, preceded by an opportunity at noon for the public to drop in and tour the new facility before construction resumes.
Brooke Taylor, president of the board, and Executive Director Steven Raider-Ginsburg will update the timeline for completion and opening of the facility at 219 N. Oak St., Port Angeles.
The press conference will be at 4 p.m. at the Field Hall at the corner of Front and Oak streets.
It also will be livestreamed at www.fieldhallevents.org/livestream.
Additional speakers at the press conference will be U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, who represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes Clallam and Jefferson counties; state Rep. Steve Tharinger, who represents Legislative District 24, which covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and a portion of Grays Harbor County; Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter; Frances Charles, chair of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe; and representatives of area arts organizations.
The public is invited to drop in any time between noon and 1:30 p.m. Thursday to tour the facility as it stands now.
Construction on the Field Arts & Events Hall was put on hold in March 2021 so organizers could ramp up fundraising for the $50 million facility on the Port Angeles waterfront.
In March, Raider-Ginsburg told members of the Port Angeles Business Association that the center was expected to reopen in the first quarter to late spring of 2023.
The 41,000-square-foot venue will include a 500-seat performance hall to host local, regional, national and international music and performance artists; a coffee shop; a gallery and a food-preparation kitchen for banquets and a conference center for up to 400 participants.
The structure sits on 183 steel piles driven an average of 42 feet.
Raider-Ginsburg said he will make mention at the press conference of upcoming programs, such as Peninsula Performs, which will be launched in the fall.
The arts education program will connect up to 1,000 Port Angeles School District students to arts experiences that align with curriculum standards, organizers said.
“When tragedy strikes, communities pull together to get through the difficult times,” said Raider-Ginsburg, in a press release issued last Thursday.
“Tragedy has struck our nation again, in Buffalo and just earlier this week in Texas.
“We can’t wait and we won’t wait until the building is done to begin strengthening our community,” according to the release.
The Field Arts & Events Hall was sparked by the $9 million behest in 2014 of the late Donna Morris, who specified the money should go to a performing arts center. Dorothy Field purchased the land. Other contributors included numerous corporate and individual donors, including $1 million by the Elizabeth B. McGraw Foundation, which is headed by recent Sequim resident M. Lee McGraw and $2 million from First Fed.
The Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra is a partner in the project, designated by Morris in her will when she left the largest gift ever received by a nonprofit in Clallam County.
Other partners specified in the will included the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts, Peninsula College, the Peninsula College foundation, the city of Port Angeles, the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center and the Community Players.
For more information about the project, see fieldhallevents.org.
For an application for teaching artists for Peninsula Performs, see https://tinyurl.com/PDN-TeachingArtists.
