This month marks a year since the first graceful feet sauntered across the dance studio floor, the first tiny hands finger-painted in the preschool classrooms and the first hungry eyes scanned the gallery walls at the new Lawrence Arts Center.

The hallways of the massive new building at 940 N.H. have rarely been quiet since. That’s no surprise, Arts Center staff say. There’s plenty to shout about.

The 40,000-square-foot center boasts purpose-built spaces designed specifically to accommodate their uses; a new printmaking program made possible by a donation of six presses by the late artist John Talleur; a 300-seat auditorium that has supported dozens of musical, theater and dance performances; 2,800 square feet of gallery space that has showcased the work of such noted Kansas artists as Robert Sudlow and Nick Vaccarro; a ceramics studio that’s three times the size of the former one; and a street-front gift shop that sells work by local artists.

Groups who rent the auditorium for performances, such as the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra, have seen audiences as much as double in the new space.

“I have to think that truly going to a theater for a chamber music concert adds to the ambiance, even if the group is the same,” said Ann Evans, executive director of the center since its inception in 1975. “A real concert hall is a more respectful place for the performers and the audience.”

Enrollment in Arts Center classes doubled between the summer of 2001 and the summer of 2002, jumping from 1,000 to nearly 1,500. More adults are taking classes than ever before. And morale has never been higher.

“It’s just wonderful,” said Jeff Ridgway, who teaches painting and drawing at the center. “It’s like a dream come true.”

Specialized space

Ridgway, who taught for nine years at the center’s former home, the old Carnegie Library at Ninth and Vermont streets, said that although the new building was “a very sterile place” (the Glenn Livingood Penzler Miller architects-designed structure contains mostly concrete, steel and glass), the activity within its walls has infused the space with an energy conducive to creativity.

Opening night at the Lawrence Arts Center in April 2002 drew a large crowd.

In particular, Ridgway appreciates the specialized studio spaces.

“I taught painting and figure drawing in a basement for nine years. We just had to make do,” he said. “I’m fond of saying now the students don’t always leave with glitter on their butts.”

The adult classes used to meet at night in the same room where preschool students had been making art projects all day. Now Ridgway teaches in a room that has, for instance, a light on the ceiling that can be focused on a subject to produce natural shadows.

The first-floor gallery space — with its bamboo flooring, high ceilings and voluminous area — also has been a useful tool for Ridgway’s classes.

“It’s a nice space for reflection,” he said. “It was a nice little gallery at the old place, but it was more like a big room. This is obviously a gallery space. Galleries, for a lot of us, are almost like temples. It’s where we go to worship the one thing science can’t explain.”

Raising the bar

Deborah Bettinger, director of ballet at the Arts Center, has seen the performance level of her dancers reach a higher level since the program moved to the new building. There’s very little that hasn’t improved for the dancers in the new space.

For starters, the dance studios are actually IN the Arts Center. In the old setup, dancers performed at the center but rehearsed and trained at a studio a block away. The new studios have sprung basket weave floors that are Marley coated, rather than wood floors that soak up human oils and create a slick work surface.

“Now, they’re just able to attack their point work without the fear factor,” Bettinger said of the dancers.

Probably the highlight of Bettinger’s first year in the new space was the premiere of “A Kansas Nutcracker,” the ambitious variation of the holiday classic “The Nutcracker” that she choreographed and helped stage during December in the new auditorium. All nine performances — seven public and two school shows — sold out. Organizers have decided to stage the production again in December.

“I think we have to because we turned so many people away,” she said. “It was a great reception. We were all just kind of shell shocked by the whole thing.”

Bettinger has been impressed with the role the new building has played in promoting the best of everyone’s creative potential.

“For the performing arts, it’s certainly opened the doors for bringing up our level,” she said. “Even little things, like being able to bring down a dance to the preschool and getting them interested. People are rising to the occasion.”

Loose ends

At one year, the new building is still a baby in the 28-year history of the nonprofit community center. As such, a few minor adjustments remain. A trap door for mechanicals needs to be installed. Grout in the concrete floors needs to be touched up. Lighting needs to be added or changed here and there.

“Little things,” Evans said. “Everything else is wonderful.”

As for first-year surprises, there have been a few. Evans learned a bigger building with more people means more work.

“I knew it would be more work,” Evans said, “but I didn’t know how much.”

Nor did she realize how proud the public would be of the new center. She’s seen many people take out-of-town guests on tours of the building and refer to it as “OUR Arts Center.”

“I hadn’t quite expected community pride at that level,” she said.

“The best part is that old saying, ‘If you build it, they will come,'” she said. “You can’t always assume that will happen. But it did.”