The Chase Fine Arts Center gets $1.5 million for improvements, but no one will see them

The state legislature awarded $1.5 million to Utah State University for improvements to the Chase Fine Arts Center, but staff members agree that it doesn’t address the needs of its students.
According to Jerrod Larsen, the manager of the Chase Fine Arts Center and assistant director for production services, the Morgan Theater was amazing when it was built in 1967, but time and lack of funding have caused it to wane.
“The building was built in ‘67 so there’s a lot of stuff that was just great when the building opened,” Larsen said. “But after 40 some odd years, it’s not great or it’s not up to current standards.”
The money awarded is for improvements to existing buildings. Larsen said that USU had the building inspected by an outside firm to evaluate its needs.
“In 2010 USU facilities hired a company called Method Studios to do what we call the ‘code review’ of the entire fine arts complex,” Larsen said. “So the Morgan Theater was part of that. The purpose was to identify where we’re out of compliance for code or where we’re lacking in things that we need.”
Larsen said that the company found issues involving the seismic connections to the roof deck as well as air issues involving ventilation, heating and cooling.
“We’re talking the seismic connections of the roof deck to the walls above the ceiling," Larsen said. "The Cat-walk system to access everything above the ceiling isn’t up to current code. There are some HVAC, some heating, ventilation and air conditioning issues where the units are either failing or they’re not very efficient. A lot of stuff was stuff no one would ever see.”
According to Larsen, the Morgan Theater needs a lot more than the amount awarded to meet current standards. Until recently, the lighting students were using a “cobbled together” control console.
“We were training kids that had a solid background in the concepts of design, but actual experience working on equipment they would find out in the world, we just couldn’t do it,” Larsen said. “And in reality we still can’t without some serious funding and I know that the college administration is doing everything they can to do that.”
In order to make the theater program competitive, a lot more funding is needed.
“The Morgan, all told, needs $3.5 million,” Larsen said. “What we can have for $1.5 million is a very safe and improved Morgan Theater.”
Matthew Stowe, the technical director for the department, said that much could be done to improve the theater as it's being worked on.
“If you’re going to tear things apart,” Stowe said. “You might as well put it back together right instead of back together the way it was when it was wrong - or at least wrong for what we’re doing now.”
According to Stowe, it makes sense to do an acoustic study before replacing the ceiling.
“If they’re going to redo the ceiling, you want to do an acoustic study along with it to make sure that the space sounds good because honestly, this space is awful to do sound for a musical."
Stowe said that the Morgan Theater is a Shakespearian theater and was never meant to house musicals that required speaker clusters.
“The sound system, the way it is now, it’s been redesigned and rehung but we’re bandaging a bleeding wound,” Stowe said. “We’re trying to fix a room that was never meant to have speaker clusters in it. We’re shooting reinforced sound at hardwood which is bouncing straight back at the microphone which creates a sound-loop which creates feedback which is hard to control.”
Larsen said that the department’s main priority is safety, but so too is making sure its students are prepared.
“Ultimately,” Larsen said, “what we want is for our student to go out into the world prepared for what they’re going to find there.”