Central College invites the public to share in celebrating the completion of extensive renovations to historic Douwstra Auditorium.
A public open house will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. today. The open house provides an opportunity for the Central College and Pella communities to have a sneak peek at the transformation that occurred over the past several months. The recent $2.2 million renovation-the first phase of two planned for the facility-has transformed the local landmark into a regional concert hall. Private donors provided all the funding for the renovated space, including a $1.2 million lead gift from the James ’66 and Beatrice Hoekstra ’64 estate.
Renovations, which began in December, include: visual updates to the interior, new seating, acoustical improvements, window shading system, state-of-the-art sound, lighting and multimedia systems, digital multi-track audio recording system, video projector and retractable projection screen, assistive listening system, and a lighted art sculpture. The second phase of the project calls for the installation of a hand-crafted Casavant Freres pipe organ.