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Located in an architecturally stimulating former church building, the Selma Cultural Arts Center has been created through a partnership involving the City of Selma, Selma District Hospital and tremendously supportive and hard working community volunteers.
Its well-equipped studios are a delight to artists of all disciplines. The Arts Center's instructional programs are enjoyed by ever growing numbers of southeastern Fresno County residents eager to learn and expand their artistic expressiveness.
The striking C.F. Unger Hall is an intimate theater and exhibition center that all of the Performing Arts—drama, dance, and music, as well as Literary and Visual arts of all types—can call home.
Made possible by Selma District Hospital's generosity in making available the former St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, and by the City of Selma's dedication to the Arts and further improving the community's quality of life, the Selma Cultural Arts Center is here for everyone in Selma and the south county to use, visit and enjoy.
The Cultural Arts Center's Origins
The Selma Cultural Arts Center is the finest and most exciting example of the south county's rapidly increasing interest in and backing for the Arts.
The various Arts have long been embraced by individuals and some organizations within the Selma, Kingsburg and Fowler communtieis. In 1994 a tremendous surge of interest and participation in the Performing Arts began, through productions of Selma's resident community theater group, the Raisin' Cain Players, in the old Unger Opera House.
Recognition that the Opera House's shortcomings could best be met through development of a new facility sparked a movement that was encouraged by the Unger Opera House Committee, the City of Selma, and an ad hoc performing arts center committee. Their goal was to create a theater as part of a larger effort to house and enthusiastically support and encourage all of the Arts.
At a crucial point in this process, Selma District Hospital officials presented a concept to the City of Selma for which the timing simply could not have been better: Would the city be interested in the former St. Andrew Presbyterian Church building now owned by the hospital but only being used for storage?
The answer, during the Summer of 1996, was an eager and immediate yes! The church would become the Selma Cultural Arts Center. After the building was ready for use, art classes began being offered in what had been the church's Sunday School classrooms. The City of Selma's Recreation and Community Services Department staff moved into the building's offices. Detailed designs and plans were prepared for converting the former sanctuary into a first-rate little theater that could host the Arts in any of their wonderful disciplines. Construction began during the Autumn of 1996 and was completed in January of 1997. Dedication Day was February 9, 1997.
The Building
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church was organized on January 28, 1968, as a successor to the old Selma Presbyterian Church. The new congregation initially met in other Selma churchs but the following year began construction of a new church next to the hospital at 1045 Rose Avenue. Strikingly modern in its lines and layout, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church opened in November of 1970. After the congregation disbanded in 1991, the building for a time was utilized as a day care center before the property was sold to Selma District Hospital.
Project Support
Funding for the Selma Cultural Arts Center's initial development was provided by the City of Selma and its City Council, and by the former Unger Opera House Committee, which provided several thousand dollars raised during previous stage productions in the old Unger Opera House. The Opera House's extensive lighting and sound equipment as well as an electric piano, keyboard and stage sets were also donated. Making the project possible in the first place were the directors and administrators of Selma District Hospital, who graciously made the facilities available in support of the Arts.
C.F. Unger Hall
At the heart of the Selma Cultural Arts Center and occupying the former church's sanctuary is C.F. Unger Hall, the center's exciting little theater.
Honoring Selma's pioneer showman and recalling Selma's three theaters known as the Unger Opera House, C.F. Unger Hall is an outstanding venue for the Performing Arts, and much more. The Literary and Visual Arts are equally at home in Unger Hall, as are meetings and seminars of all types.
Unger Hall's setting in both intimate and comfortable. Although Unger Hall can comfortably seat more than 160 people, its wide and spacious design means that no seat will be more than seven rows from the stage. Since seating is not fixed, different arrangements, including table seating, can be easily utilized as the occasion requires. The stage and Unger Hall's well equipped technical facilities have been designed and developed to efficiently use available space while enhancing audience enjoyment of programs and productions.
The lobby is a place to meet friends and enjoy displays of art work. Also in the lobby is the entrance to the City of Selma's Recreation and Community Services Department office.
The Studios
Art is what the Selma Cultural Arts Center is all about, and offering educational opportunities and hands-on learning experiences is a major focus of the Arts Center's growing number of programs.
A separate building, conveniently located a few steps to the rear of the main structures housing C.F. Unger Hall, houses the Cultural Arts Center's two well-equipped studios.
Here, the Visual Arts and creativity are coming to life, in paintings, drawings and crafts.
Why a Cultural Arts Center?
The Arts are cornerstones of creativity, and of so much more! Whether taking the form of music, dance, drama, or any visual or literary discipline, the Arts have tremendous value, to the artist, the audience and the community at large. Advocates and patrons of the Arts in southeaster Fresno County have recognized that by encouraging and fostering the Arts, we are broadening our region's quality of life. The Arts bridge cultural differences and produce common ground for interaction and communication. They broaden learning and personal talents and skills, and build a sense of personal achievement. The arts make a community's social and aesthetic structures blossom, and create important economic advantages. For everyone, the Arts are a source of enjoyment and satisfaction. To suitably nourish and house the Arts, the people of Selma and the south county, along with the City of Selma, have created the Selma Cultural Arts Center and its theater and exhibition center, C.F. Unger Hall.