At 9:00 on Friday we are meeting at Easter Seal to present to Yoli Cantu the attached Ostrich Egg which I made and she bought. This was the wood turn that I was doing when I crushed my pinky finger.
It would be really great for you to be there and take pic and do follow up story for both publications. DHR and Rio Grande Regional were sponsors of the event among many.
Texas Border Business
By David Diaz
City, university, and state leaders on Monday, January 13, will celebrate the ongoing construction of what will be one of South Texas’ premier educational and entertainment venues with a Beam Signing Ceremony for the $42.6 million University of Texas-Pan American Academic and Performing Arts Center (APAC).
In general, a Beam Signing Ceremony marks the completed installation of steel beams that make up the outline of a building.
However, university leaders will be taking the event one step further: the beam will serve as an art piece bearing the signatures of key figures who helped push for the creation and state funding of the complex, which is about 30 percent completed.
Students, faculty, staff and all area residents are being invited by UTPA leaders to become part of the performing arts center’s history by witnessing the signing of the steel beam, which will be permanently placed at the 100,000-square-foot structure when it opens near the end of 2014.
Following a 10 a.m. press conference at the International Trade and Technology Building on Monday, signatures will be collected of key leaders, such as the Edinburg City Council, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors, and state legislators, who made the state-of-the-art complex, which will feature a 1,000-seat auditorium, a reality. The EEDC is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg City Council.
Both the EEDC Board of Directors and the Edinburg City Council helped lobby the Texas Legislature and the UT System Board of Regents for the creation and state funding of the UTPA Academic and Performing Arts Center.
Edinburg Mayor Richard García, who also serves as president of the EEDC’s five-member Board of Directors, said the emergence of the Academic and Performing Arts Center will have profound and long-lasting effects on the city council’s and EEDC’s vision for downtown revitalization.
“It fits in with our master plan for cultural development for our city. With the Academic and Performing Arts Center, as well as the coming construction of a $50 million city-owned arena, the expansion of the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, and other projects set to be announced soon, we are making Edinburg the center for high-quality, family entertainment venues that not only improve our quality of life, but make it that much more attractive for businesses to expand and locate in our city, and with it, create more jobs and economic prosperity,” mayor Garcia said.
But García, who has built a statewide reputation as a leader who always shares the credit with others on major successes, said he wants one person in particular to be forever linked to the performing arts center.
“We wanted this facility badly, we needed this facility badly, and the big hero on that is Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen),” the mayor said. “I would love to see that facility be named after him. I have told him that in the past, and I will lead that charge because he was largely responsible for the state funding, and fighting to keep that money for the performing arts center.”
Hinojosa was the driving force in the spring of 2006, when the Texas Legislature was at work during a special session at the State Capitol.
“He was the principal legislative architect who made the state financing possible for this landmark project,” García recalled. “He successfully attached an amendment to a statewide tuition revenue bond bill. His effective move provided the needed financing mechanisms to pay for the performance arts complex, which represents one of the largest infusions of financial resources by the state for new construction at UTPA.”
Key highlights of performing arts center and according to the university:
• Renovations to the interior of the Arts and Humanities department buildings adjacent to the APAC are also underway. Renderings of the center are available on the APAC website at www.utpa.edu/apac. There you can also view its progress with live-streaming video of the construction site.
• The APAC auditorium will offer seating for 1,000 guests and serve as the main stage for world-renowned artists, as well as the UTPA Mariachis, Ballet Folklórico, and other performance art students who are busy honing their craft.
• In addition, the university’s Development Office is working to raise funds to help build a recital hall within the APAC complex – the only missing piece of the project. The proposed recital hall, being built by SpawGlass Construction Company, will provide a suitable rehearsal room with a seating capacity of 180 where music, theatre, and dance students will practice. The construction cost is $4 million and depends entirely on private donations. Costs include construction, lighting, audio/video support systems, furniture, and landscaping.
• While the University is waiting on the APAC opening, other areas of campus and community venues are playing host to great musical, dance, and theatrical performances from our students and faculty. For more information on these events or to learn how you can support the recital hall construction, visit www.utpa.edu/apac.
The Edinburg Economic Development Corporation is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg City Council. It’s five-member governing board, which is appointed by the Edinburg City Council, includes Mayor Richard García as President, Fred Palacios as Secretary-Treasurer, and Felipe García, Jaime A. Rodríguez, and Dr. Havidán Rodríguez. For more information on the EEDC and the City of Edinburg, please log on to: www.EdbgCityLimits.com
All rights reserved.
