“It’s been conductor Andrew Kurtz’s dream for 26 years: A permanent home for Gulf Coast Symphony. Now it’s finally happening,” writes Charles Runnells in Wednesday’s (8/5) Fort Myers News-Press (FL). “The community orchestra announced the news last week. They’re opening a 400-seat performing arts venue and community center at Unitarian Universalist Church in south Fort Myers…. Plans include a new professional chamber orchestra, daily arts and music classes for all ages, free concerts for Lee County students, and even touring rap and indie-rock acts…. The space … a hub for arts, music and culture for people of all ages, backgrounds and interests [will be called] the Music & Arts Community Center—or the MACC…. The venue could open by October with livestreaming or recorded concerts…. As the pandemic allows, they’ll [phase] in bigger live audiences. Virtual arts and music classes could start by September…. Gulf Coast Symphony will continue performing all its big shows at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, once the south Fort Myers venue reopens…. Kurtz says he’s dreamed of having his own performance space since founding Gulf Coast Symphony in 1995. The smaller space will allow him to take more programming risks.”
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