CCH celebrates two decades as region’s cultural nexus
The Community Concert Hall was borne of a disaster that ended up a blessing for the Four Corners’ cultural and educational communities. On January 19, 1993, at 5:35 a.m. -- two and a half hours before the day’s first classes were to start – FLC’s Fine Arts Building caved in under the weight of an unusual and extended series of January snowfalls.
No one was hurt, but the collapse destroyed the Fine Arts Auditorium. At the time, the venue was the only formal, large-capacity performance facility in Southwest Colorado, and with its collapse the community lost its ability to host large-scale cultural performances.
In the summer of 1994, the College kicked off a $5-million campaign for a new concert venue on campus. The campaign met its goal within a year, funded with a combination of monies from state, city, county, tribal, and nonprofit entities, and private support more than 700 individual donors.
In May 1997, the new 600-seat Community Concert Hall launched into action, and it hasn’t rested since. Two decades later the Community Concert Hall is a staple of community, culture, and education for FLC, southwestern Colorado, and the Four Corners region, hosting local, regional, and national musical, comedy, drama, lecture, and dance acts in an intimate setting.
On October 21, a Jazz on the Hill gala event featuring Storm Large will celebrate the Concert Hall’s 20th anniversary.