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North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts' new Black Box Theater has been named in honor of one of the people who made it possible, former principal, Dr. Douglas Santini.
To have a very strong arts program, you need supplemental funding to get what the students and teachers need, said North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts Principal Andrea Gunns.
Santini, through visiting other art schools, found that a foundation is a great support arm, resulting in implementation of the North Fort Myers Academy Arts Foundation.
They began looking for another venue in which the students could perform. By building a stand-alone black box theater -- something that would cost much more than they could ever likely raise, the foundation decided to come together and raise money for a that type of theater within the school.
"Dr. Miller and Dr. Santini and I went to Sarasota County, which had a black box theater in a classroom (that was) converted," she said. "We looked around our school to figure out what would be the best space. We have a large computer room that didn't need to be that large. We decided to use that," she said, of what is now known as the Dr. Santini Black Box Theater.
The space now includes lighting and a sound system.
"You can perform in the middle and have people around you, perform at one end for a standard audience performance," Gunns said. "We are just starting to use it a lot."
Over the course of the COVID pandemic the theater was used for dance class to provide social distancing for students. She said moving forward the space will be used by many teachers as the arts is infused in academics.
A special dedication held for the Dr. Santini Black Box Theater on April 28 used three different areas, providing students with the opportunity to perform, Gunns said.
"We started all the guests in the theater and talked about the history. We had them move down to the art gallery and then we walked them to the Black Box Theater. It was a history walk of how it evolved," she said.