The Academy Advisory Committee has delivered its report to the Building Committee, marking an important step in the development process of the new community center. The results of a recent survey by the committee indicated strong trends regarding what usages residents wanted to have available to them in the new design, and that feedback will be submitted in hopes of incorporation into the final design.

Several of those factors, including performing arts spaces, studio art spaces, and culinary arts offerings, were all cited in the survey as priorities to incorporate into the design, according to its report submitted to the Academy Building Committee last week.

Chair of the Advisory Committee Bill Stableford said the report is not binding in that the committee does not have design or construction authority; it is simply presenting what they term a “wish list” that their data has interpreted that residents desire.

“We recently completed our Outcome 2023 Report,” said Stableford. “In February and March, we conducted Zoom focus groups on three areas, performing arts, studio arts, and culinary arts. We had experts from Long Wharf Theatre, the Madison Lyric Stage, the Shoreline arts alliance, and many others. They told us what physical features that they wanted in the building. That info is all brand new. All of these categories were rated very high by the Madison public; these are high preference, high priority categories for the public.”

The committee has created a document, now available on the town website, that provides further clarity as to what features and programs the public is seeking in the community center.

Committee member John Lamirande said the new data was critical for the final report.

“It is a lot of information, but basically, what we are trying to do is pull everything together; the preferences for the town, the needs, and wants, the focus group features that they would like to have in the facility. What the new report does is take the 2019 draft drawing by the architect and map it to the actual plan and to find where those needs might be met. It provides options to the architect to say, based on the priorities that were assigned, where could those be satisfied? As they make their decisions as to how they are going to move forward, in terms of layout or budget constraints…that they have data to work with.”

According to Lamirande, the Building Committee will make the hard decisions as to what preferences can be accomplished within the design and cost restrictions.

“The intent was to squeeze as much as possible out of the space that’s available, and the data collected to provide as much value as we could to the Building Committee, who are then going to be chartered with the difficult task of figuring out what we can really do,” said Lamirande.

Stableford emphasized that the Advisory Committee does not have design authority and is simply a body created to assist with the ongoing plan and provide information in a way that allows the building committee to implement their design in a manner that is as consistent as possible with public preferences.

“These are expressed preferences only. We cannot make any guarantees about any particular activity or feature that would be incorporated into the final layout. The architect and the building committee will have to weigh and consider structural issues and budgetary issues, and within those restraints, they will try to maximize the degree to which the expressed preferences of the public are provided for in the building,” said Stableford. “High on the list were meeting space, people want a gathering space, they want performing arts, they want theatre, music, dance, and studio art; painting and drawing…pottery came out very high. And a large percentage of people wanted culinary and cooking lessons, so the kitchen is very important. So, we are trying to translate these preferences by the public into the physical structure as much as is possible.”

The next step is now with the Building Committee, which is now working steadily on the final design. That process will take a longer period, and construction is not scheduled to begin until late 2024 at the earliest, with an anticipated completion date in late 2025.

Stableford also praised the advisory committee, whose volunteer members all provided valuable insight and expertise in formulating the report.

“As chair of the committee, I have to commend all of the members. These folks volunteered their time, and everybody pitched in. Everybody did something unique and helpful. I am so pleased with their work and the total outcome,” Stableford said.

Lamirande added, “I have worked with a lot of different teams, and there are very few that have every member contributing something to the process; this one did. It was a real team effort in every sense of the word.”

A copy of the full report can be found at the town website www.madisonct.org/academyadvisory