PHSC Officials Cut The Ribbon At The New IPAC!

Pasco Hernando State College held the official ribbon cutting of its Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC), which has been open less than a year, on Jan. 6. Speakers praised the public-private effort to bring the facility to fruition. (Photos: Charmaine George)

After nine months of operating quietly on the campus of Cypress Creek High off Old Pasco Rd., the Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC) Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC) is preparing to spread its wings in 2022.

On Jan. 6, PHSC and governmental officials held the IPAC’s official ribbon cutting, with a dozen or so local dignitaries (like county commissioners Ron Oakley and Mike Moore and Florida State Rep. Randy Maggard, a PHSC graduate) on hand to give short speeches, some of them focusing on the success of the IPAC and its future offerings to the community.

Afterwards, IPAC executive director Lauren Murray, DMA (pictured above), said that PHSC students have already embraced the theater classes, and will be able to take dance classes this semester and participate in the facility’s music program starting this fall.

There also will be group piano and guitar lessons, which also will be available to the public, and Murray (right photo)has high hopes for launching a community art series this fall, which would include things like jazz trios, locally produced musicals and even stand-up comics.

“It will be pretty diverse, with musical, theatrical and dance events that we expect will reach a broad range of people,” said Dr. Murray.

The state-of-the-art, 35,000-sq.-ft. IPAC features a number of studios for things like dance, music and video production, and the 444-seat Will Weatherford Theater — named for the former Florida Speaker of the House who helped secure funding for the $18-million facility, is considered the heart of IPAC.

The facility already has won two awards — a first place Special Projects in the Florida Educational Facilities Planners’ Association, Inc., 2021 Architectural Showcase!, and an Excellence in Collaboration award from the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a nearly $20-million investment in our region that will be truly transformational for our students, our families and the residents of this area,” said PHSC Provost Dr. Kevin O’Farrell. “There is really nothing like the Instructional  Performing Arts Center that we have here at PHSC.”

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent for Pasco County Schools, was one of those first approached when the idea of building a performing arts center or arena came up years ago. He told the ribbon-cutting crowd that in his search for the right kind of design, he collected floor plans from the Tampa Bay area’s Mahaffey, Capitol and Straz theaters, and even a theater in Singapore that had a $100-million price tag.

“We didn’t quite get there,” he said, laughing. “Regardless of the cost, what we got was a jewel.”

There have already been 26 events held at the IPAC, most of them small and self-produced by local groups who rented the theater. There have been two fully-staged theatrical productions, musical events, day-long conferences and Dr. Murray said the active Indian community in Wesley Chapel has held two dance events with three more planned this spring.

She is hoping to augment the positive start with the community art series, outdoor festivals, week-long festivals and large-scale events.

“We plan to reach a lot of people,” Murray says. “We really are looking to cover the gamut.”

For more information, visit PHSC.edu or call (813) 536-2816.

Raising The Curtain At The IPAC

Lauren Murray, DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts), couldn’t keep the smile off her face, which was obvious by the twinkle in her eyes as she showed off the new Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC) Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC) to the media.

Standing in the middle of the state-of-the-art, 444-seat theater that is the centerpiece of the 35,000-sq.-ft. project, the new executive director of the IPAC called it her dream job to help turn the IPAC, which is located in front of Cypress Creek High on Old Pasco Rd., into one of Wesley Chapel’s true jewels.

“It’s a beautiful addition to the community,” Dr. Murray says.

Murray (photo), who PHSC lured away from her position as the music chair at the Patel Conservatory at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, says she has two objectives — to provide a space for the community, local schools and art and performance organizations that need space to perform and have a hunger to learn, as well as to provide programs for PHSC students who are practical and viable.

No expense was spared on creating the IPAC to achieve those goals. Because the 5.85 acres to build on was donated by Pasco County Schools (PCS), PHSC provost Dr. Kevin O’Farrell said his school was able to “pour more money into what’s happening there instead of acquiring land and preparing it for building.”

The theater will have the benefit of an orchestra pit, which allows for the best acoustics. It also features a high-tech counterweight rigging system — also known as a fly system — which should make anyone playing Peter Pan or any other high-flying character happy as the IPAC serves high school and college students from all over the county. 

Murray says she hopes to lure touring companies to the IPAC to put on quality shows. At the groundbreaking in 2019, Pasco County deputy superintendent of schools Ray Gadd raved that it would be a “full-blown, professional theater.”

From the spacious lobby to the new classrooms for dance, music, drama and multimedia, the IPAC, a joint $18-million venture between PCS and PHSC, is brightened by large windows everywhere. 

Covid delayed the opening, which was originally scheduled for fall 2020. Like many construction projects, the IPAC dealt with supply issues. The rigging system came from New York, the seats from Michigan and much of the sound equipment from California — three of the hardest-hit states during the pandemic.

However, PHSC will offer limited online classes this summer and, in the fall, will hopefully welcome students back to a full complement of classes.

PHSC will offer two programs at the IPAC. The first will be an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree, within which there will be four pathways — two in music (instrumental and vocal), one in dance and another in theater.

Second will be an Associate of Science (A.S.) degree, which will focus on multimedia and digital technology and include things like web and graphic design, as well as video editing and production. It includes one lab featuring Apple computers, and another with PCs.

O’Farrell calls the new IPAC a missing link, or missing piece, for area students with an interest in fine arts. 

“A lot of people will graduate high school and have to go away because there’s nothing here locally for them,” he says. “This will allow them to continue here locally and earn that A.A. degree in a fantastic, state-of-the-art facility.” 

PHSC also has found the perfect person to lead the IPAC into its future, O’Farrell says. Murray is an accomplished oboist who has performed at New York City’s renowned Carnegie Hall. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Stetson University in DeLand, FL, a Master of Music degree from Yale University in New Haven, CT, , and her DMA from the University of North Texas in Denton. She also has taught at a number of universities, including at USF.

This, however, may be her most exciting challenge yet.

“The opportunity to come into a brand new building that someone has built and create programming from the ground up is completely unheard of,” she says. “Friends of mine who I called and told about this were like, ‘What? You’re in a brand new place that they just built?’ No one could say no to this. It’s dream job, it really is.”

Performing Arts Center Breaks Ground!

When Pasco County deputy superintendent of schools Ray Gadd first came across the sprawling 250 acres or so of property on Old Pasco Rd., he decided he wanted it.

However, he couldn’t have it — it was under the control of home builder D.R. Horton, which had portions of it under contract with three different people.

Disappointed, Gadd told the home builder that if those contracts fell through, to let him know.

And fall through they all did, leaving Gadd and Pasco County planning director Chris Williams with an opportunity to convince three different people to sell their slices of the parcel.

Years later, on a perfectly sunny and cloudless day, Gadd stood on that property smiling, with Cypress Creek Middle/High School behind him, a separate Cypress Creek Middle School under construction to the north of him, and the future home of the Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC) on the nine acres beneath his feet.

The Cypress Creek Conservatory of Music performed at the groundbreaking of the new Instructional Performing Arts Center on campus. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

The IPAC, a joint $18-million venture between Pasco County Schools and Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC), celebrated the IPAC’s official groundbreaking on April 23, with Gadd sharing the story of the land’s acquisition with a crowd of 100 or so.

“Chris Williams and I sat in a little block home… with a couple, and we negotiated their part of the land,” Gadd said. “Then, we went out to a trailer in a little ranch and stable up the hill, about where the middle school is going up and negotiated that piece of land. That was easier than the third gentleman we negotiated with…but ultimately we got all 250 acres. So, that was the beginning of this vision.”

The IPAC facility, which will be located at 8701 Old Pasco Rd. in Wesley Chapel, is expected to be the bridge for students interested in performing arts at Cypress Creek Middle/High.

The Instructional Performing Arts Center (artist rendering above) which just broke ground adjacent to Cypress Creek Middle/High School on Old Pasco Rd. (groundbreaking below) will be a joint venture between Pasco Hernando State College and Pasco County Schools.

The facility is a joint effort between PHSC and the Pasco School District, and will offer programs in dance, theater and music, both vocal and instrumental. It also will offer dual enrollment opportunities for local high school students. 

“It’s a huge bonus for us,” said Cypress Creek Middle/High principal Carin Hetzler-Nettles. “The dual enrollment opportunities that our students will have at their fingertips is exceptional.”

Dr. Stanley Giannet, the vice president of academic affairs and faculty development at PHSC, said the facility will have an “economic development flavor” to it as well, with a new Associate of Science degree in digital design and multimedia technology.

“It’s a high-wage, high-skill industry, and those who finish our (new) program will be immediately employable,” Giannet says.

Although the facility will be run by a center director who will be a PHSC employee, Giannet says there will be “significant levels of collaboration” in regard to the programming and the pipelining of students into the center.

The state-of-the-art performing arts space also is expected to attract artists from all over the country, as well as those locally, and is expected to generate additional revenue for both the county and PHSC.

According to Gadd, the theater’s overhang and lobby area can be used to host banquets and meetings, so the local chambers of commerce and Rotary clubs can hold events there, and the master agreement allows for serving alcohol at the center (but not at the adjacent schools).

“It’s going to be a full-blown professional theater,” Gadd said. “There will be student productions, (acting) troupes that can book shows and maybe even some old rock-n’-rollers that want to play music. Hopefully, the community will take advantage of it in that respect. That’s the dream.”

The dream of the district, as well as PHSC, to build a performing arts center in has existed in some form for years. Originally, it was expected to be built near PHSC’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch. Developer JD Porter, whose family donated the land the college (and Wiregrass Ranch High and Long Middle School) is built on, even talked of a performing arts facility as an attraction for Wiregrass Ranch’s future town center north of S.R. 56, near the forthcoming indoor athletic facility to be called the Wiregrass Sports Complex.

But, Porter has withdrawn interest following the decision to move the project to the Cypress Creek campus, which is more than 10 miles away from the PHSC campus.

Money to build the project — $15.5 million — was secured with the help of then-Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Will Weatherford. The school district donated 5.85 acres on the Cypress Creek campus’ southeast corner to the college, which will pay for the remaining construction costs of the $18-million project.

The IPAC, as well as the already-under-construction Cypress Creek Middle School, are both scheduled to open in the fall of 2020.

The separate middle school also will feature a state-of-the-art 150-seat black box theater, and an orchestra room that also will accommodate dance and chorus programs.

The planned performing arts center — the second major PAC at a Wesley Chapel school site (the other is at Wesley Chapel High on Wells Rd.) — also is expected to enhance PHSC’s regional appeal to students at its Dade City campus, 13 miles to the east, and maybe even, Dr. Gianett says, its Brooksville campus 30 miles to the north, especially once the Overpass Rd. interchange at I-75 is built.

“Having the Instructional Performing Arts Center here will elevate both schools,” Giannet said.