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Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Expected to Open in 2011

There's been a lot of progress at the site of the $405 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts since the 2006 groundbreaking. It's scheduled to open in fall 2011.

By Laura Spencer

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/national/local-national-783793.mp3

Kansas City, MO – Isaac Franco, project principal for Moshe Safdie and Associates, says the Center for the Performing Arts is expected to open in 2011. Franco says it's a complicated project. With a 1600 seat symphony hall, and an 1800 seat proscenium theatre, they want to open when the structures and the acoustics are ready.

"You want to tune them, you want to...make sure that it works. You want to make sure that all the systems work. You want to rehearse in it. You want to have the orchestra get used to it. And then you open it," says Franco. "There will be a whole bunch of rehearsals and soft openings before it really opens for the public."

For the last year and a half, workers have been laying concrete. In November (2008), a new phase starts: the installation of structural steel, which will take a least a year. Laura Spencer, KCUR News.

Kansas City is known for its style of jazz, influenced by the blues, as the home of Walt Disney’s first animation studio and the headquarters of Hallmark Cards. As one of KCUR’s arts reporters, I want people here to know a wide range of arts and culture stories from across the metropolitan area. I take listeners behind the scenes and introduce them to emerging artists and organizations, as well as keep up with established institutions. Send me an email at lauras@kcur.org or follow me on Twitter @lauraspencer.
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