The Johnson Center for the Arts announced Wednesday that the JCA has received $32,000 from the Alabama State Council on the Arts to improve the JCA main gallery and Studio for enhanced staging and acoustics, which are much needed to get these spaces up to par for music and theater events, said Andrea Pack, JCA executive director.

“Troy University and its offsite performances, through various music and student groups, who learn here, and a few specialists who will help us select and install the best products to cut down on echo and unwanted feedback in the spaces, making performances better for those with hearing difficulties and folks who, all of a sudden, have hearing problems just in those spaces.”

Pack said the JCA has a special “thank you’ to Sen. Josh Carnely who called to share the news.

Pack said Troy now has top notch musicians and performers and the JCA wants to have the right facilities to allow audiences to fully enjoy their audio and visual experiences.

“One of our major problems at The Studio has been the ability to view performers on low stage,” Pack said. “Staging will allow audiences to see performances better. We also knew for a long time that, although the Gibson gallery is beautifully restored and regularly used, the audio quality is severely sub-standard with too much reverberation to allow listeners to hear clearly.”

And, finally, Pack said, the Studio space, which accommodates larger audiences, is in need of similar treatment to improve audio quality for listeners.

“We hope to ultimately make these spaces prime locations for musical and artistic performances in downtown Troy and for the use of its citizens and the surrounding areas to better enjoy live entertainment.

“This space is for the community and we look forward to the improvements.”