From the Ground Up: Nixa High School Aetos Center for the Performing Arts

Owner/developer: Nixa Public Schools
General contractor: DeWitt & Associates Inc.
Architect: Dake Wells Architecture Inc.
Engineers: Mettemeyer Engineering LLC, structural; Shaffer & Hines Inc., civil; and True Engineering LLC, mechanical, electrical and plumbing
Size: 35,000-square-foot addition and 15,000-square-foot renovation
Estimated cost: $15.2 million
Lender: None
Estimated completion: Winter
Project description: Aetos is the Greek word for eagle, which, in its plural form, is the mascot of Nixa Public Schools. It’s a fitting name for a cultural locus, and that’s exactly what the Nixa High School Aetos Center for the Performing Arts will be when it opens in late 2022 or early 2023. The project includes a two-story addition for the district’s performing arts center, and it will double the size of the current space to an 1,100-seat auditorium with a stage, set-building shop, storage area, media room, concession/ticket office, lobby, restrooms and elevator. Along with the new construction is renovation of the old auditorium and band and choral rooms into new rehearsal and performance spaces. The theater room will double as a classroom and a black box theater space, as well as a dressing room for traveling shows, according to Zac Rantz, district spokesperson. “It’s a multifunctional space that will allow us to bring multiple productions to the area,” Rantz said. “It is a place for the arts and a destination for the entire region to come to.” The project, with others, is funded by a $15 million bond and 41-cent levy increase approved by Nixa voters in April 2019.