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 “We’ve gotta have a show, with a million laughs … and color … and a lot of lights to make it sparkle! And songs — wonderful songs! And after we get the people in the hall, we’ve gotta start ’em in laughing right away! Oh, can’t you just see it?”    — Patsy Barton, “Babes in Arms”

Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney popularized this quote in the 1930s movie “Babes in Arms.”  The storyline repeats itself in modern sitcoms and movies.  But the reality of putting on a show is anything but a light-hearted romp.

Ask Shane Fernando, director of Cape Fear Community College’s Humanities and Fine Arts Center. Fernando is about six months away from opening New Hanover County’s largest performance hall, housed in a 159,000-square-foot building along North Third Street. The center will be equipped with 1,500 to 1,600 seats in its main performance hall, the state’s largest orchestra pit and an acoustic experience masterminded by one of the country’s leading acoustical engineers in the performing arts field.

The concept has been 25 years in the making and now with the opening scheduled for Oct. 3, Fernando is heading into the final stages. His mantra: “remain intentional.”

At the beginning of April, seats were installed and sightlines checked. Before tickets go on sale, each seat is checked to make sure the view is as planned.

“We can’t have a seating chart until we have all the seats in place. We can’t have a ticketing office and a website without a seating chart,” Fernando explained.

With seats in place, CFCC conducted a search for a ticketing central manager in early April. Ticketing is just one piece of the puzzle.

“Every component that goes into operating a large venue, we are doing from scratch,” Fernando said.

A startup of this kind is unique. Building the presenting entity, the organization that books and brings in shows, as well as building the space, is not an everyday occurrence.

Now add the center’s primary mandate to the mix — to function as an academic space.

“The performance hall is a place to be entertained and culturally enriched but the operations are intimately connected to the academic mission of the community college,” Fernando said. Roughly 5,000 students and faculty will use the facility each semester, said David Hardin, CFCC’s director of marketing and public relations.

“I can’t think of a more incredible laboratory for our students to get that type of real-world experience. I wish I was a student again,” Fernando laughed.

The concept of having everything all in one compound is unique, said Tony Rivenbark, executive director of historic Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts.  The school’s public art gallery is across the street from the performance hall, separated from the academic space by a courtyard off of the lobby.

As the days tick away, Fernando is signing contracts with performing artists and developing a marketing plan to reach its stated 75-mile radius. Ticket sales are scheduled to begin in June for the three large series: a star series with headliner concerts and comedians; a Broadway series that will bring in large-scale Broadway touring theatricals; and a contemporary dance series.

Throughout the booking process, Fernando is conscious not to duplicate arts programming already in place in Wilmington. Since dance troupes perform on a stage here, Fernando wants to explore presenting dance in one of the studio spaces installed with a sprung floor to absorb shock. The studio performance, popular in large metropolitan markets, allows for a more intimate experience for the audience and the dancers, with the audience only feet away from the performers.

Another of Fernando’s missions is developing strong ties with the community. He’s forging one of those partnerships with large donors. The building’s total budget, $46.4 million, was paid for by New Hanover County taxpayers as part of at $164 million 2008 bond referendum. But additional funds are required. Fernando aims to wrap up the major fundraising push this summer. Already in place as of early April are major named donors Corning, PPD, Dr. John and Betsy Leonard, and Frank and Linwood Potter-Gainey.

As much as Fernando would like to shout from the rooftops about the upcoming season, he said he is moving forward slowly and deliberately.

“We’re not at the point where we can talk about all that is to come,” Hardin added, “but as soon as we get there, we will not be able to stop talking about it.”

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