Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Those attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for the renovations to the Wagon Wheel Conservatory got to witness a special performance by volunteer Conservatory students who put together a brand-new dance combination just for the occasion.
They were singing, dancing and moving around the space for a few numbers they had only started practicing a couple hours beforehand under the direction of Ian B. Connor. The physical performance demonstrated how theater is the sport for many of the young people involved in it.
Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts Outreach and Education Director Kira Lace Hawkins welcomed everyone to the celebration of the milestone for the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts and Wagon Wheel Conservatory. She was joined by Development Coordinator Carrie Vrabel, Communications and Donor Relations Coordinator Sam Engle, Board of Directors members, Managing Director Jennifer Dow and staff members while the cast of “Cats” was rehearsing over in the Wagon Wheel’s main building.
“For those who may be new to our programs, Wagon Wheel Conservatory is our education branch. We offer acting, dance, summer workshops, master classes and pre-professional training opportunities for students all across northeast Indiana,” she said. “Most importantly, the Conservatory is designed to be a place where students can grow in confidence, find their authentic voice and truly feel that they belong - whether they are stepping onto a stage for the very first time, or pursuing serious, high-level training through programs like our brand-new Broadway 360, started by Ian B. Connor. As a nonprofit organization, we are incredibly grateful to serve this community by offering performing arts education.”
She thanked the K21 Health Foundation for making the project possible.
“For us at Wagon Wheel, this entire project began with a phrase that has come to mean a lot to us, which is ‘Theatre is my sport.’ We understand that not every child finds their place on a basketball court, a football field or a running track. For many young people, the theater is where they move their bodies, build confidence, and learn to work as a team, take creative risks and discover where they belong,” Hawkins stated.
“This is why the floor in this room matters so much. This isn’t just a facility improvement. It is a direct investment in the health, creativity, confidence and sense of belonging for our community’s kids. K21 Health Foundation’s support has helped give our students a safe and welcoming space to build that confidence, and to discover what moves them both physically and emotionally,” she continued.
The renovated space includes a brand-new, state-of-the-art sprung dance floor from Harlequin Floors.
“Fun fact,” Hawkins said, “this is the exact same flooring used by ‘Steps’ on Broadway and is the official floor of the American Ballet Theatre. So it’s a state-of-the-art awesome dance floor.”
Renovations also include brand-new portable mirrors, three new dimmable “fandeliers” to keep the air moving comfortably and a custom room-dividing theatrical curtain.
“We are so deeply grateful to Milestone Construction for their stellar work installing and completing this space. They had to get incredibly creative to engineer the curtain installation in this unique place, and they even tracked down a specialized flooring expert who could seamlessly weld the vinyl floor together. We truly could not have done this without them. We’re so thankful,” Hawkins stated.
Going forward, she said a good portion of the Conservatory classes will be held in the newly renovated space, allowing Wagon Wheel to serve their students more fully and continue growing their education programs.
“We are also fully committed to completing the larger, ongoing renovation of this building so that the Conservatory can continue becoming a top-tier training, rehearsal and learning space our students deserve,” she said.
As a nonprofit theater, ticket sales only cover a portion of what it takes to provide professional theatre, community programming and arts education. Support from foundations like K21, along with support from the broader community, help keep the doors open, Hawkins stated. She extended a special thank-you to the donors who support the Conservatory’s scholarship program, including Dave and Cynthia Illingworth, Patsy See and numerous others.
“Because of them, I am proud to say that at Wagon Wheel, no student is ever turned away from Conservatory classes because of an inability to pay. So, today, we are celebrating much more than a new floor. We are celebrating a place where students can move, learn, belong and discover exactly what they are capable of,” Hawkins said. “So, thank you again to the K21 Health Foundation, Milestone Construction, the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce, our phenomenal board, our dedicated staff and the families, donors and students who helped bring this vision to life.”
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce and the performance by the Conservatory students, K21 Health Foundation President and CEO Rich Haddad explained why K21 wanted to help support the project.
He said, “As an industry, we would say cultural arts aren’t in our mission, but one of the key health pillars we have is called Youth Development & Activity, and what you just saw is exactly that. And, so we would see youth development as anyway we can help a child develop into a thriving adult, right? And to be part of a wonderful community, that’s got a lot of elements to it, a lot of variety to it. But the word ‘activity,’ as you saw is happening right here and so we want to be able to invest in youth so they, again, develop well in every way, but they find their place to be active because embracing an active lifestyle is really one of those secret ingredients to being a healthy person. So, this fit us really well and we’re excited that the space is going to help the kids in our community for years and years.”
Hawkins said Wagon Wheel has been holding classes in the space, which was carpeted (formerly the 2517 Restaurant), since about 2019 when they took the building over. Professionals also have been using the space for extra dance rehearsals.
“As the Conservatory has grown, we just realized that the one rehearsal room in the main theater space was not enough to allow the programs to expand the way they wanted to, so it became obvious that we really love the idea of making a really safe dance floor in this space,” Hawkins said. “In our talks with K21, as we kind of came up with this ‘Theatre is my Sport,’ and really feeling passionate about providing a space for the kids who are not involved in sports to move their bodies and get involved physically with an art form, it just became apparent that that might be a partnership where we could actually accomplish this and thanks to their partnership, we were able to.”
The work on the floor was completed in January, she estimated. The curtain has only been up a couple months, and the mirrors were just assembled about two weeks ago.
“The mirrors were a really important last addition that now it really is a dance studio where we can teach and instruct in here, but they’ve been using for Broadway 360s since January,” she said. “We started using this floor the second it was laid and ready to go.”
She believes the students can really feel the excitement of something being created for them.
“We’re investing in the students’ education in this way. I think it feels really tangible to them, and I think it tells a big story that this is their space, and sometimes the professionals might ‘borrow’ it, rather than the other way around. So this is really the educational space that the students feel ownership of,” Hawkins stated.
