By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
In the mid-1990s, Byron Center school officials and community leaders came together looking for a new idea that would “really put ourselves on the map,” according to Van Singel Managing Director Sara Bower during a recent Locally Entertaining podcast. “That it would make us a destination district.”
“We had this wacky idea of not just having an auditorium but to have a state-of-the-art auditorium that could be utilized by the community and host professional shows,” she said. “It could host classes, things like that. Whatever the shell of the building needed to be, we could adapt it.”
The idea of a full state-of-the-art facility, such as the Van Singel Fine Arts Center, was revolutionary. Most school districts at that time had an auditorium but nothing that would allow touring shows to come into the community. In fact, when studying the possibility of the Van Singel Fine Arts Center, it was determined that the facility’s closet competitors would be the Red Barn Theatre in Saugatuck, DeVos Performance Center in Grand Rapids, Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo, and the Wharton Center in Lansing.
So Byron Center built the Van Singel, which in turn helped make the school district that “destination district.”
Today, several districts, such as Forest Hills and Jenison followed Byron Center’s lead and are now are homes to state-of-the-art facilities. Similar to the Van Singel, these facilities also offer touring shows, community theater and other arts and entertainment events. The Van Singel also is the home of the Gainey Gallery, which hosts exhibits of work by area artists.
With the changing landscape, Bower said during the Locally Entertaining podcast that the Van Singel and Byron Center community leaders came together again to talk about how to raise the bar in what a facility like the Van Singel can offer.
Referring to it as Van Singel 2.0, Bower said the group looked around its community and the West Michigan area to see what gaps in arts and entertainment education and programming were needing to be filled.
The Van Singel now hosts the Meijer Great Choices Film Festival, where student filmmakers from around the state enter public service announcements on positive life choices to Michigan’s K-12 youth. The 2020 competition is accepting entries through Feb. 7. For more information, visit meijergreatchoices.com.
Last year, Van Singel started its own Youth Theatre program which will present “Disney’s Frozen Jr.” in June.
The Van Singel also continues to offer touring shows. Upcoming productions are “The Closet You Can Get to Elvis” featuring Scot Bruce as Elvis on April 18 and Cool Jazz featuring Aaron Diehl and Chad Eby on May 1. For more information about these shows or other events at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center, visit vsfac.com.
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