By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
David Corkill has two main ambitions in life: community and art. Within the past two months, Corkill has made those dreams a reality by building a new Performing Arts Community Center (PACC) in Waco, of which he is the founder, owner and director.
Located at 924 Austin Ave Suite 150, the new multi-faceted art space will officially ring in its grand opening on Sept. 6 with a celebratory “joint ribbon cutting from the Waco and Hewitt Chamber of Commerce” at 11 a.m., according to Corkill. After that, festivities will pick back up at 6 p.m. with the grand opening celebration, where guests will be welcome to mingle, explore the space, and enjoy a selection of food and drinks.
At 7 p.m., attendees will be invited to watch the inaugural performance featuring a mix of dance, theatre, ASL and music, according to Corkill. There will also be an introduction of the team and teachers as well as giveways, and a speech about the history, mission and the vision of The PACC.
Classes will officially kick off on Sept. 7.
The space, formerly an axe house, is a complete manifestation of Corkill’s vision. From the beginning, Corkill said he knew he wanted a place he could call home to multiple types of art, from theater to music to ASL. He has now accomplished that in less than two months.
“We moved back to Waco about a year and a half ago and started formulating this idea on a bigger scale to see if it could be a reality or if it could actually happen here,” Corkill said. “And once we found out that it could become reality, it pretty much turned real, really quick, we got into this building a month and a half ago, and it looked like an axe house.”
The venue includes multiple areas and rooms, all for different classes, workshops and leisure. In the front of the space are offices, the community and art room, and the music room. Each of these areas is furnished with comfy seating and a multitude of activities, books, instruments and art supplies, making this a creative haven.
Towards the middle of the building are the dance studio and stage, which eventually transition into the green room at the back, made specifically for performers.
“I kind of mixed it up here,” Corkill said. “Like this entertainment room is kind of the study room slash entertainment room then we have our art room, we have a music instrument room, which we had over there too. And so just trying to find a place that had enough space for all these things that we wanted, not just rehearsal space, not just stage space, not just the hangout space, I wanted it all.”
While Corkill was able to swiftly implement his plans, his intention and vision for the space had been well in the works. Corkill said he wanted The PACC “to be the downtown hub of the performing arts.”
“I keep calling it a train station where people can come in, come out,” Corkill said. “There’s so many great groups that have spawned in the last 10 years here: theatre groups, dance groups and music groups, but a lot of them don’t have homes. We want to provide them a home. I want to provide them a space to rehearse and a space to perform.”
Corkill recruited Alli Somes, a member of Waco theatre group Silent House Theatre Co., as associate manager to curate a diverse and successful space. Somes has a dance and theater background and will teach multiple classes and workshops at The PACC and work events in the front office.
“I will be teaching five dance classes a week. My youngest age group starts at third grade, and then I go all the way up to an 18-plus class, so adult classes, and that’ll be a variety class that I’ll teach,” Somes said. “And then I also have three workshops coming up: one in September, one in October and one in November.”
The PACC offers a variety of classes and workshops, including dance, acting, theater, podcasting, art, magic, improv, character writing and many others as well as multiple upcoming concerts. These are all available to check out on their website. To register for any of these classes, click here.
