Moline High School’s 62-year old auditorium has a new look and a new name – the Bartlett Performing Arts Center creates more opportunities for District 40 students. It also benefits the entire Moline community as a regional education and entertainment venue. The project is made possible through a partnership with the Robert E. Bartlett Family Foundation.
Expansion and renovation transform Moline High School’s 60-year-old auditorium into regional performing arts destination
The Bartlett Performing Arts Center not only creates more opportunities for Moline High School students but also benefits the entire Quad Cities region as an education and entertainment venue.
A 35,000-square-foot makeover converts the single-slope lecture hall into a professional-quality venue with 800 stadium-style seats, all-new lighting and audiovisual systems, and handicap upgrades. The renovations also straighten the auditorium’s “scalloped” walls to improve acoustics.
The 10,000-square-foot addition features a curving glass wall that displays to passersby nighttime activity in the new lobby, where a graphic introduces the performing arts center. The addition also houses three light-filled fine arts instructional rooms: instrumental music, choral, and multipurpose. The multipurpose room, equipped with lighting and audiovisual systems, doubles as a black box theater for small performances.
A 230-foot-long “river wall,” inspired by Moline’s location amid two rivers, starts at the main east entry, curves along the lobby/corridor that separates the auditorium from new educational spaces, and ends outside the secondary west entrance.
Other renovated spaces include dressing rooms, practice rooms, a concessions area, and a scene shop with garage doors that open directly to the stage and to the outdoors.
It was an inclusive process. We were at every meeting and our voices were heard to create a design that balanced our dreams with the reality of the budget.
Dr. Deborah Bracke Chairman, Robert E. Bartlett Family Foundation
