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About the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center

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The Pullo Family Performing Arts Center (PFPAC) at Penn State York provides a state-of-the art facility to host your next event! The center features audience amenities and technical capabilities not normally found in such an intimate environment. From cutting edge audio, video, data and lighting systems to fully adjustable acoustic curtaining to luxurious interior accoutrements, the PFPAC will serve as an ideal venue for a wide variety of entertainment, educational, and social events.

Construction on the 71,000 square foot facility began in December 2004 and completion of the building has been highly anticipated by the campus and community. The $11.9 million facility was constructed with state funding through the Department of General Services in Harrisburg and opened in August 2005. The new building overlooks the City of York from the top of the hill on the southside of the campus near the Main Classroom Building.

The performing arts center has seating for just over 1,000 and offers full theater capabilities. Students, faculty, staff, visitors, and guests will enjoy the intimacy of a smaller theater with the seating capacity of a larger venue because of the balcony that is part of the architectural design. "We have a fully equipped theatre with state-of–the-art lighting and sound and one of the largest stage houses in the area. There's a full fly tower which allows us to bring in tours and traveling shows of all kinds," said Steve Haver, general manager, campus performing arts center.

The lower section of the building will also house art classroom space and offer programming flexibility not currently available on campus. The performing arts center will allow the campus to bring in a variety of entertainment and educational programming that will compliment the offerings of other venues in the area. In addition to cultural events, the performing arts center is also be used for commencement, a film series, and a variety of other activities. The performing arts center will also be home to four resident companies - the York Youth Symphony Orchestra, York Junior Symphony Orchestra, York County Honors Choir, and the York County Junior Honors Choir – who will rehearse and perform there. The library portion of the facility is in two separate levels and includes group study rooms, stack space, instructional space, and special collections rooms. More seating space will be available in the new library and visitors will have a spectacular view of Memorial Park, the City of York, campus, and the woods.

The library doubles in size from just 9,000 square feet in the old facility to almost 20,000 square feet in the new one. "The whole internal environment of the library is remarkably different than what library users are currently used to," said David B. Van de Streek, assistant librarian at Penn State York. "In addition to a larger, more spread out space, there is a generous amount of natural light through the library's many windows, and the general acoustics should be far better than those experiences in the old library." The library also has its own computer lab. The performing arts center and the library are connected with an atrium/lobby space designed to be open to floors above and below. There will be ample use of glass to take advantage of natural light and the vistas to the north. Sparky and Clark's, a popular local café, has a location in the atrium and the café will be open during the day for students, faculty, staff, and visitors as well as during events at the performing arts center.

In addition to the paid performances in the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, the campus will continue its free cultural arts series sponsored in part by the York Newspaper Company. Free programs for the performing arts center have included Calle Sur, The Blue Method, Olivia's House: "Healing Hearts Through Arts", 70s Rock - Barry Drake, Rock Historian, Mind Candy, Dominic Gaudious, and much, much more!

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