Selection of architectural firm for arts center nears

By By Penny Randall / staff writer
July 4, 2004
The announcement of the architectural firm who will design the Southern Arts and Entertainment Center could come as early as a week.
Nineteen firms from across the country including Miami, Washington, D.C., and California applied for the job. The top three met with the center's board of directors and its executive director, Charlotte Tabereaux, recently.
Tabereaux said she expects to break ground on the project, which has yet to receive needed funding, in mid-2005. A 175-acre site in the Bonita Lakes area of Meridian was chosen by the state as the site for the center.
Tabereaux said she expects the center to be fully complete in five years, depending on the funding.
Plans for the center include a concert hall; a 5,000-seat amphitheater; an artists-in-residence village; a Choctaw Cultural Center; and an Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame to include writers, actors, dancers, visual artists and musicians.
Tabereaux also wants the community to be aware of other important upcoming events.