Thursday, March 26, 2009

Question of the Day: Why does the Library need a 300-seat auditorium?

The 300-seat auditorium in the downtown facility fulfills a need articulated not only to the Library, but also the Park District and Village, in surveys and planning focus groups. Each entity independently heard that our community needs cultural programming and events to be available within Plainfield. Community groups need a larger venue for events like dance recitals, musical recitals, community theater, musical performances, author events, movie events, etc. The mutual need for auditorium space was actually the catalyst for the Library and Park District's exploration of a joint use facility. The auditorium remains a priority to facilitate those intergovernmental partnerships and support the community need for cultural programs and events by providing presentation space.

For example: the Candidates Night held at Village Hall on 3/19 was standing room only. This is precisely the type of community event that would be supported by the Library's auditorium. Programs already in place like Teen Readers Theater group, musical programs and larger children's programs would be able to accommodate triple the number of attendees in an auditorium than in the Large Meeting Room. The Park District already offers dance classes and need a recital space.

A frequent follow up to this question is about the high school auditorium. The auditoriums in each of the high schools are too heavily used by the schools (each serves all of its "feeder" schools) to allow for community use.

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