JCC Cuts Ribbon On Music Facility
After construction began last May on a $5 million project, Jamestown Community College celebrated the opening of its renovated and enhanced music facility Wednesday.
The public event was held in the music wing located on the first floor of the Sheldon Center.
The event featured live music performances and tours throughout the new facility.
Related to the updated facility, JCC offers degrees in fine arts: music and music industry and a certificate in digital audio production.
Michael Martello, vice president of administration at JCC, said in September the construction was brought on to make the Isabella M. and Ralph C. Sheldon Building, formerly known as the Arts and Sciences Center, more “contemporary.” The name was changed recently to give commemoration to the Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation, who donated $1.1 million to the project. The state provided $2.5 million and Chautauqua County accounted for $1,125,000 of the total costs.
Clark Patterson Lee was hired as the architecture firm and the general contractors are Perry Construction, Citadel Services, Ahlstrom Schaeffer Electric Corp., Jamestown Roofing and Mazza Mechanical Services.
The 3,000-square-foot addition was added for more space, but also intentionally positioned to be seen across campus.
“We wanted the addition to actually be a bit of a signature for the campus so we wanted it to look really, really nice,” Martello said last year.
The addition will face the inner areas of the campus for students to see as they’re walking from class to class.
One year ago, the board of trustees approved the inclusion of the music industry degree in JCC’s catalog. College officials said at the time the new facility will complement the new program and an emphasis on music.
“We identified a need. We wanted to upgrade and enhance our music department because the area itself is pretty rich in culture,” Martello said several months ago when construction was under way. “We thought it was a very natural thing to do to be able to enhance our music department to be able to support the culture that surrounds us.”
The project made way for new and renovated areas for classroom, studio, rehearsal and performance uses. Among the new spaces for the music department includes an enhanced studio, a piano lab and a small rehearsal room. Also, other music equipment was updated to match the modern music industry.