The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts serves as a venue for local productions and supplies Belmont University students with a high-end performance environment, but faculty and students worry that their programs are not being allotted enough time in the building to properly develop their education.
With enrollment on the rise putting increased pressure on scarce resources for the performing arts programs, Belmont affiliated groups are curious about how the financial pressure of the recent Fisher Center build will continue to limit student time in the building and prioritize staging independent shows that make more money for the university.
“I know we have this beautiful space, but we still have nowhere to dance and nowhere to rehearse,” said Nancy Allen, the coordinator of musical theater at Belmont.
Allen suggests that the university needs a dedicated dance studio, an area that is lacking in the Fisher Center which was primarily built to serve instrumental and vocal performances with its innovative acoustics.
Debbie Belue, an associate professor and the director of the dance department, agrees that the university is starting to “push the limits of what can be done in just a few theaters.”
“Our biggest challenge is navigating space. Our department would like to get to a place where we can solve that so that it is not so much of a focus,” said Belue.
Regardless of accommodation constraints, the opportunity to perform on a world-class stage, fashioned after traditional European opera houses, is often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Belmont students are able to sing, dance, or play on the same stage as Brad Paisley, Garth Brooks and Josh Turner. Performing in the Fisher Center is just another way that Belmont students can get a leg up in the professional world.
“[Performances] that you put in this brand-new performing arts center are going to have an extra level of prestige and intrigue that people want, and that is valuable to students,” said Nathan Ancheta, a senior musical theater student.
However, money does continue to play a role in the allocation of practice rooms and performance time in the Fisher Center. Most student productions at the university bring in significantly less money in comparison to hosting outside artists in the venue. Profitable shows are especially important to Belmont as they work to repay the $180 million accrued prior to the Fisher Center’s opening day on Sept. 14, 2021.
Belmont students who were under the impression that the Fisher Center would be primarily used as a learning tool are frustrated that student productions are being pushed from such a high-end venue to a secondary theater on campus such as the Troutt Theater or Black Box to cater to these outside performances.
“The difficulty arises because the auditorium isn’t financially suited for educational experiences,” said Allen.
While the Fisher Center was designed with a vision to be the best performance venue on any college campus in the world, according to the Belmont University News and Media page, John Harkins, a junior theater major, said he values the inconsistency of the performance spaces at Belmont, arguing that he is afforded more of an educational experience because he is constantly required to adjust his acting style based on the venue in which the performance takes place.
The faculty’s desire for their students to have a large collection of hands-on training experiences combined with money constraints attached to performing in the venue ultimately keeps many student productions in the Troutt Theater or Black Box rather than in the Fisher auditorium. The Fisher Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, the Fisher Center is still in its younger days, so many students and faculty members expect that the Fisher Center will make an even greater impact on our campus in the coming years as scheduling conflicts are ironed out. Belue is one professor that anticipates more consistency in the Fisher Center’s future.
“I think they’re still trying to figure out how it can do all the things that they want it to do for students, and how they can serve the students with its presence on campus.”
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