If everything goes right, a new air conditioning system could be in place by early summer at the Mississippi Arts Center in downtown Jackson.
While AC hasn’t been needed in recent weeks, stifling heat last May forced organizations with offices at the arts center at 201 E. Pascagoula St. to find other places to work.
Supply chain issues brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic have made replacing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system a slow process because it’s difficult to obtain a system, said David Lewis, deputy director of cultural services for the city of Jackson.
“In alignment with the national supply chain issues, we are too experiencing delays in shipments of the equipment,” he said. “At the end of 2021, we received notice that the shipment was delayed to March. Yesterday, we received another update that the shipment is delayed until April 21. That’s not when it will arrive but when it will ship.”
Installation is expected to take a month, which would mean the system could possibly be up and running by early summer, Lewis said.
Prep work will be done beforehand so the space will be ready when the system arrives, Lewis said. Universal Services in Jackson is involved in the work.
Lewis hopes the installation solves long-term issues at the building that houses the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the USA International Ballet Competition, the Greater Jackson Arts Council, Opera Mississippi, Art For All Mississippi and the International Museum of Muslim Cultures.
“We have been identifying all the various parts and pieces that need to be upgraded and address to ensure that this massive fix is a long term one, not a short-term one,” he said.
Mona Nicholas, executive director of the USA International Ballet Competition, is not surprised to learn about the delayed shipping.
She looks forward to when the IBC can return to its offices and hopes that can occur this summer.
“One of our sponsors has allowed us to have space at the Pinnacle building,” she said. “It’s a bit like living out of your suitcase.”
The next USA IBC is scheduled June 10-24, 2023, and the IBC’s office in the arts center is especially convenient during the competition, which is held at neighboring Thalia Mara Hall, she said.
“All of this is making me really, really nervous,” she said. “That’s where our hub is.”
Nicholas visits the office in the arts center once or twice a week for various reasons and the heater isn’t working.
“They told us the heater would work, but it doesn’t,” she said. “They’ve been renovating the bathrooms to bring them up to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance. I do think they’re almost finished, but the ones by of our office are torn apart.”
David Keary, artistic and executive director of Ballet Mississippi, said he is unsure if the heat is working in Ballet Mississippi’s space at the arts center but “when I’ve been in there, it’s been cold.”
The arts center has always had an issue with one side of the building being cold and the other hot, he said. “We’re hoping when they put the new system in it will clear it up,” he said.
Ballet Mississippi continues to have classes at the Mississippi Museum of Art instead of the arts center and in Madison.
Tom Harmon, executive director of Art For All Mississippi, said the temperature in his office at the arts center was comfortable.
“We were told that the heat would continue to operate,” he said.”I know there is air flowing through the vents.”
Harmon hopes the Art For All Mississippi Community Art Group can begin meeting again, starting on Feb. 15.
Keary said he wouldn’t be surprised if shipping of the HVAC system is further delayed, pushing installation back so the system isn’t in place until late summer or early fall.
“Alexis McGrigg, arts center manager, and David Lewis have worked as hard as they can, but shipping is messed up,” he said.
The city drafted an emergency declaration, which is typically used in dire situations after a storm merits remediation, to move the project ahead, but that didn’t seem to help.
“It took us forever to get a company to give us a quote,” Lewis said.
The city sought quotes for the job from four companies and it received a response from one company in August, he said.
The city council approved a resolution to issue up to $5.5 million in general obligation bonds from the Mississippi Development Bank for the repair of the HVAC unit at the arts center and to renovate the Russell C. Davis Planetarium.
If there’s an upside to this story, it’s this: The arts organizations pay no rent for use of the arts center thanks to a longstanding agreement with the city of Jackson, which is responsible for the upkeep of the building.
Keary admits the deferred maintenance of the building has been aggravating.
“They just kept kicking the can down the road,” he said. “It’s very frustrating.”
Lewis looks forward to seeing the arts organizations return in full force to the arts center. “These groups are the core of that. We do want to see them return.”
