The new Hatch Auditorium at the Library Center is complete, and a grand opening weekend is set for January 16 through 18.
The new auditorium is available for the public to use, and the library has hired an event spaces coordinator. The 500 seats retract, creating an open space, and there’s a stage for programs.
Library Spokesperson Vickie Hicks believes it will be an important asset to the community.
"We can seat 200 at tabletops," she said, "so if you wanted to have a special event where it's a flat surface...we've already even talked to the (Springfield) Police Department about graduating their academy next year in that space, so it's going to be very flexible for use by the public."
The project includes a new 12-foot sculpture by local artist Michael Steltzer outside the Hatch Auditorium called “Vistalation.”
The visually interactive outdoor sculpture provides “fisheye perspectives as seen from below,” according to Sculpture Walk Springfield. It describes it as “playful and reminiscent of children’s toys.”
A reflective ball sits atop orange sticks, it said, and viewers “can see themselves and the adjacent auditorium façade in 360 degree vistas.”
The opening weekend for the Hatch Auditorium kicks off with a teen silent disco Friday night for kids 12 to 18. The STEMusic Concert with Roy Moye III will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday for families with kids age 2 to 11; and Bob Holden’s Community Jazz Ensemble will perform Sunday at 2. The band, Geezer, will give a concert Saturday, but tickets are already claimed.
Winter Reading Challenge
An annual event to encourage people to read is underway in the region. The Springfield-Greene County Library’s annual Winter Reading Challenge for adults began January 2 and goes through February 28.
"There are 15 categories, and we ask that adults read books from five of the 15 categories, said Vickie Hicks, spokesperson for the library district. "And they can document those on a paper form available at the library or through our electronic resource called Beanstack. "And they would win a mug, a Winter Reading Challenge mug at the end of that. And we get so many people that get crazy about that mug."
She said people love getting the mugs – they give out about a thousand each year, and some have been collecting them for years.
You can sign up here.
