Burnsville’s Performing Arts Center – Beauty & Controversy

The $20 Million Burnsville Performing Arts Center opened in January 2009 as an anchor to central Burnsville’s business district.  It was envisioned as a central showcase for arts and business development in the “Heart of the City”.  Along the way, there has been a backlash from some citizens about the cost and process used to approve and run the Center.

The Building

The facility itself is located at 12600 Nicollet Avenue and includes 2 theatres, a 1,014 seat main stage (the Proscenium Theater) and a smaller, more intimate 150 seat venue (the Black Box).  There is also an Art Gallery which is open Thursday & Friday afternoons from 1-5pm and Saturday from 10am-2pm.  Finally, the building also has rehearsal, meeting & reception spaces.

The Arts Center partnered this year with Burnsville School District 191 to open the Envision Academy of the Arts magnet school for grades 9-12.  The first year attracted 65 students (capacity 150).  

The Grounds

The scene outside the building is very nice.  There is an outdoor performance area, lots of flowers, water features and the building lights up in different colors at night.

The Controversy

The building was back in the news this week as they city council approved more funding to improve the facility – More Funds Sought For Burnsville PAC

There was a definite lack of performances scheduled early on and the center was losing more money than expected early on (warning – salty & negative language) – PAC to Lose $825k?

Moving Forward

Despite the acrimony, the Burnsville Performing Arts Center is a beautiful space and is starting to get a much fuller list of upcoming performances across a wide spectrum of interests – Event Calendar

For a complete album of the 25 pictures I took at the PAC visit my Facebook album – Bill’s Fan Page Photo Album