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. 

Authors Share Writing & Publishing Tips At PHSC-Porter Campus Symposium

Local author Madonna Jervis Wise talks about her experiences researching history books and the business of self publishing at PHSC. (Photo: Courtney Boetcher)

A panel featuring English professor Joseph Ward, J.D., Pasco Hernando State College student and author Taylor Gibson and local author Madonna Jervis Wise regaled a crowd of about 50 people at PHSC’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch about the process of writing and publishing at a seminar on March 23.

Each author shared their experiences in the field while the lively audience of diverse community members posed questions for the panel. The event is part of PHSC’s ongoing Community Awareness Series that aims to increase public awareness of resources available to community members at the state college.

Gibson, a native Floridian and a current student at PHSC, has written and published The Spark: A Phantasy Novel.

Taylor told the audience that as a child, he spent hours with books and movies, and conceived his fictional characters in his head before he began writing in high school. He explained that he was diagnosed with a high-functioning autism as a young child, and endured trials during adolescence which further inspired his writing.

Taylor hopes to write a movie script about his experiences and bring it to fruition after he graduates from college. His second novel in The Spark series is currently with the editor, and he has nearly finished the third book in a series of four planned novels.

Fantasy is a popular genre for twenty and thirty-somethings, Taylor said. He added that his characters transform as fantasy becomes reality through thought. Taylor’s self-publishing company is AuthorHouse.

Ward is a founding faculty member of the PHSC Porter Campus and he sponsors the Literary Artists and Scholars Troop (LAST), a creative writing organization at the school. He has published four true crime creative non-fiction novels under a pen name.

Having graduated from law school at Florida State in Tallahassee as well, and as a member of the Florida Bar, Ward shared his unique perspective about the world of crime.

“Writing a book was on my bucket list of things to do,’’ he said. “My first book began to take shape with a discussion I had with my father about a 1980s serial killer in the State of Florida.”

The professor gave some useful, if not sobering, advice to the aspiring writers in the audience.

“Don’t expect fame or fortune,’’ he said. “It is analogous to the adolescent athlete who dreams of the NBA. In reality, writing is a satisfying endeavor and brings some supplemental income in the monthly royalty checks.”

Ward went on to publish three additional crime novels, and currently is working on two sequels. He recommended that potential authors check out the book, A Guide to Literary Agents, for the process of developing a query letter and book proposal. He also recommended WritersMarket.com.

Ward humorously shared that mystery writer Agatha Christie had five years of rejection before her first novel was published, and J.K. Rowling was told by a publishing company that she needed to take a writing class during the 12 years she sought a publisher for the Harry Potter series.

Jervis Wise, who has published Images of America: Wesley Chapel and eight other books, shared the acquisition and publishing process of working with Arcadia Publishing/History Press of Mount Pleasant, SC. She also discussed working with Create Space for self-publishing.

“You need to surround yourself with words through book clubs, workshops and professional organizations,’’ she said, while encouraging locals to attend the Florida Writers Association of Wesley Chapel, which meets the first Saturday of each month at the New Tampa Regional Library on Cross Creek Blvd.

Jervis Wise also explained that creativity is not linear for most people. “My mantra is ‘write it now, fix it later,’” she said. “Even Ernest Hemingway said, ‘The first draft of anything is garbage.’”

During the Q & A with the audience, attendees inquired about the research process for crime and history books. Ward said that he often reads court transcripts and records from government sources, while Jervis Wise described her research, including extensive interviewing and mining the archives of historical newspapers.

Taylor described the process of self-marketing for his books.

All three authors were asked if they experienced writer’s block. The three agreed that writing was an intensive yet creative process that required stimulation and inspiration. They advised taking a break from the process to regenerate the creative juices anytime a writer feels blocked.

For more information about PHSC’s Community Awareness Series, contact Natalie Epo at 527-6629  or by email at epon@phsc.com.

PHSC President Who Helped Establish Porter Campus Retires

Recently retired Pasco-Hernando State College president Katherine Johnson (left) and PHSC Porter Campus provost Dr. Stanley Giannet.
Recently retired Pasco-Hernando State College president Katherine Johnson (left) and PHSC Porter Campus provost Dr. Stanley Giannet.

By Matt Wiley

From a cow pasture, the Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC) Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch has risen to be the tallest point in Wesley Chapel, and what is sure to be remembered as departing PHSC president Dr. Katherine Johnson’s legacy on our area.Continue reading

State Budget Allocates $10M For PHSC Perf. Arts Center In Wesley Chapel

The future $60-million performing arts center will be tied to Pasco-Hernando State College, which opened its new Porter Campus in Wesley Chapel in January.
The future $60-million performing arts center will be tied to Pasco-Hernando State College, which opened its new Porter Campus in Wesley Chapel in January.

By Matt Wiley

As part of the State of Florida’s 2014 budget, several million dollars have been set aside for what could become the first convention center and performing arts education center in Pasco County. While that alone is monumental, the project likely will be constructed right here in Wesley Chapel.Continue reading