ENCINITASENCINITAS — The city’s new Pacific View Art Center will initially operate under a five-day-week, limited-hours schedule when it opens in June.
However, the hours could soon increase, if the place is initially successful.
City arts program Collette Murphy told the City Council on Wednesday that she hopes to expand the center’s hours and class offerings this fall, and then again in the winter, if the new facility proves popular this summer.
Currently, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. expects to finish its electrical work on the property in mid-April and the general contractors plan to conclude their building renovation work at the end of May.
Arts department employees are anticipating a ribbon-cutting, grand opening event June 4 or June 28, a new city staff report states. The facility would open for public use the day after the ribbon cutting, it adds.
The city purchased the former Pacific View School property from the Encinitas Union School District in 2014 for $10 million. At that point, the property, which occupies an entire downtown city block along Third Street between E and F streets, hadn’t been used as a school for more than a decade.
After the city purchased the site, a nonprofit attempted to renovate the property, with the goal of creating a cultural arts center. When that effort proved challenging because of permitting and insurance issues, the city took over the site management and embarked on a multi-million-dollar renovation effort.
Murphy told the council Wednesday that she’s proposing to initially staff the facility with one full-time employee and four part-time ones, as well as some contract labor.
She proposed having the facility open five days a week — Tuesday through Thursday, plus Saturday and Sunday — for five hours each day. The schedule she showed the council called for the operating hours to be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on week days, and 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekends.
Council told her that they would like to see some evening hours, particularly on Tuesday and Thursday. They also said they wanted the facility to be open when major events, such as the Switchfoot Bro-Am benefit concert or the Encinitas Holiday Street Fair, are happening downtown, so those attendees could check out the new arts facility.
“I do think it could be part of a bigger, wonderful atmosphere,” Councilmember Kellie Hinze said.
Mayor Tony Kranz said he thought the initial limited hours were “a not unreasonable out-of-the-gate approach,” but said he hoped Murphy would expand the hours quickly and use creative solutions to get to that point.
The arts center will have eight rooms where classes can be held. Rooms 1 and 2 will be dedicated to visual art classes, such as painting or print-making. Rooms 3 and 4 will be devoted to performing arts classes, such as improv theater training or dance classes. Rooms 5 and 6 will have music and broadcasting activities, while Room 7 has fabric-related courses, such as quilting. The final room, Room 8, is for literary, healing and floral arts programs.
