So, are you one of those who love it, or one who hates it? You know what I’m talking about — that building that seems like it’s been under construction at Third and Market Streets for a very long time. The Whitaker Whatever. The one that gets uglier every time you look at it.

Okay, so I’m one who does not like the way the building looks from the outside. While it has helped me a bit to learn that at least the architect had something definite and sensible in mind when he came up with the design (more on that later), it’s still going to take some time before I say I like the outside. But the inside, now that’s a whole different story. And what’s going to go on inside is nothing short of a miracle for the City of Harrisburg.

Reporters aren’t supposed to sound like shills or cheerleaders, but facts are facts and the fact in this instance is that our new Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts is unlike any other center. Not just in central Pennsylvania, not just in Pennsylvania, not just on the East Coast — anywhere! Whoa. Digest that fact for a minute. The only place in this world that actively, deliberately combines and integrates science and the arts — the only place in this world — is at Third and Market streets in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

So, here to forever change our cityscape and the way people spend their days and evenings in Harrisburg is Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts.

When I moved to Harrisburg in 1970, the downtown was rapidly losing its ability to attract people in the evenings and even during the day. It wasn’t too long before the Colonial movie theater was torn down. The big excitement was the recently–opened Harrisburg East Mall, with its multi-screen movie complex and lots of free parking, not to mention new department stores. Kaplans still was on the square, Pomeroys still was open, and Bowman’s was downtown as well as at Kline Village, but the writing was on the wall for downtown merchants and entertainment.

Sports fan have been enticed to City Island by the Senators, Piranhas, and other sporting events, and the Island hosts bikers, bladers, and walkers into the evening hours. Development of some fine restaurants downtown generally has proceeded nicely, aided by the arrival of the Hilton Hotel and renovations to the Ramada. But with all of these things, there hasn’t been a central focal point for a full-range of evening activities to bring people from the suburban malls and movie theaters back to the urban center. Until now.

Beginning in the early 1970s, there have been calls from time to time for Harrisburg to follow the lead of many other cities and build a performing arts theater. Despite the success of some of those enterprises in other areas, none was able to get off the ground here. Now it appears we were waiting for the right alignment of interested parties from government, the private sector, and the non–profit sector to come together so we could not only do it our way, but do it in way that’s never been tried before.

Dr. Thomas Stone, president and CEO of the Whitaker Center, says it was that alignment of forces several years ago that yielded the support and money needed to get the job done.

“When I was brought in as the center’s first employee on March 15, 1993, I was told that the project had the backing of Mayor Reed and City Council. They provided $6 million, which was essential for what we wanted to do. But even more than that, they took the lead in approaching the Casey administration for grant money for cultural activities and came away with $21 million from the state, which they provided to us.”

We also needed key volunteer support from the corporate community and were fortunate to have Hal McInnes, who then was president of AMP, as chairman of our board. He was joined by many other community leaders. It was very significant that AMP came forward early with $1.5 million. When you’re trying to raise money from businesses, each always wants to know what the other is doing. So we were able to go to others and say, ‘Well, AMP is in for $1.5 million and we think you’ll want to be, too.’

“Finally, we’d heard that the Whitaker Foundation was looking for a project to put their name on as a way of honoring AMP founder Uncas A. Whitaker and his wife Helen. They looked at two or three opportunities but liked what we were doing and ended up providing more than $8 million. And that’s how we have the Whitaker Center.”

Stone says the broad-based community support coupled with strong financial backing meant that he was able to attract and hire people from around the country who already had experience with what would become the various elements of the Whitaker Center and were excited by the plans that were developing here.

So what is this Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts that Steve Reed calls the city’s “crown jewel” and that advertises itself as being the “center of it all?” Well, it’s a seamless blend of science, technology, and the performing arts carried out through a science and technology center, a performing arts theater, and an IMAX theater. As Tom Stone says, the center “really puts science and the arts together in ways that have not been done anyplace else in the world. We are using the arts as a doorway to science. We know that many people are intimidated by science and it’s good if we can use art to approach them and make science fun and interesting for them. So in the science center, for instance, there are key exhibits by prominent artists that illustrate scientific principles.”

In the Science Center, adults and children will become involved with more than 200 individual “hands–on, minds–on” exhibits intended to create an educational playground for imagination, reasoning, and discovery.

Nine permanent exhibits occupying 20,000 square feet of space on three levels carry out the merging of science and art:

• The Gateway, with its overview of the entire Science Center;

• Health and Wellness, including The Gallery of Anatomy, The Five Senses, Medical Technology, and Wellness;

• Gallery of Mathematics in Nature and Art Mathematics;

• People and Diversity, including Genetics, Culture and Communication;

• Environment and Ecology, with a focus on Global Environment, Watersheds, Pennsylvania’s Environments, and Physics;

• Forces and Motion, explaining Simple Machines, Bodies in Motion, and Backstage Science;

• Sound and Music, covering the Physics
of Sound and Sound at Work;

• Color and Light, featuring the Gallery of Light, Gallery of Color, and Light at Work; and

• Kids’ Hall with interactive mini-galleries for Sound and Music, Light and Color, Gizmos, The Theater, ArtWorks, and Kids’ Garden.

Two of the flagship exhibits that link science and the arts are “Bodies in Motion: The Physics of Dance” and “Backstage Science: The Physics of Theater.” In addition to the hands–on, interactive exhibits, Science Center visitors will see educational and entertaining Big Science Theater productions, featuring professional actors employed by the Science Center, another blending of science and performance art.

Also available to Science Center visitors is the Grass/Rite Aid IMAX Theater, a 200-seat theater with a six-story-high, 80-feet-wide projection screen that shows IMAX films that are the largest film frames in motion picture history. With the latest IMAX equipment available, the Grass/Rite Aid Theater will be able to show both two-dimensional and three-dimensional films. The 3D films are viewed through lightweight polarized glasses provided by the theater. The only other 3D projection systems available on the East Coast are in New York, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Florida.

The 3D IMAX film that is opening the theater for standalone evening performances is “Into The Deep,” which was filmed off the coast of southern California. “Into the Deep” will give audiences the sensation of swimming nose to nose with colorful garibaldi, starfish, and sharks, and playing tag with sea lions.

Theater officials say theirs will be the only one of the 170 permanent IMAX theaters operating in 24 countries, including 70 in the U.S., to be open in the evenings as well as during the day.

That nighttime theater schedule also serves as a bridge between the Science Center and the more than 200 productions to be held in the next year in the Sunoco Performance Theater, the third major element of the Whitaker Center.

Whitaker officials say the Sunoco Performance Theater will make available the finest in theater, dance, and music in central Pennsylvania and beyond. The theater represents a contemporary approach to an English court theater. It is a traditional proscenium with optional apron extension and is comparable in size to many Broadway houses. There are 664 seats in the Orchestra, Mezzanine, and Balcony levels, with 14 theater boxes over those levels. No patron is seated more than 65 feet from the stage.

The theater has been equipped with the latest in light, sound, and technical equipment, including backstage fly space to move set backdrops in and out and a sunken orchestra pit with mechanical lift.
In addition to shows produced in the theater by the Whitaker Center, patrons will be able to enjoy the presentations of 10 resident companies well-known from other venues over the years: Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Concertante Chamber Players, Nathaniel Gadsden’s Writers Wordshop, Harrisburg Choral Society, Harrisburg Men’s Chorus, Harrisburg Opera Association, Market Square Concerts, Susquehanna Chorale, Theater Harrisburg (formerly known as Harrisburg Community Theater), and The Wednesday Club Concert Association.

For those of us who know musical instruments, another sign that the Whitaker Center wants to be a first-class venue is the performance theater’s specially temperature —controlled and humidified room housing not one but two Steinway nine-foot concert grand pianos.

In addition to the three main elements — science center, IMAX theater, and performance theater—there are five classrooms in the Science Center to help with educational programs and outreach to schools, and lobbies such as the AMP Grand Lobby and Kunkel Gallery available for receptions and other public and private functions.

With all that it will offer Harrisburg and the surrounding area, the Whitaker Center is not an island unto itself. It will have a profound impact on Harrisburg’s downtown revitalization. One thing that will not be found at Whitaker Center is a restaurant. The decision was made early-on, according to Tom Stone, not to have something that would compete with the Center’s neighbors. So people will be encouraged to have dinner at one of the many restaurants downtown and then come to Whitaker Center for their evening show or IMAX experience.

“We must concentrate on providing high quality service for our guests because they’re the ones who are going to make this place work,” he says. “The Center is dependent upon usage for its survival. We will not have big operating subsidies from the city or the county.”

For much of the first two years, according to Stone, the biggest challenge will be to operate the building in shakedown mode to be sure everything works as it is supposed to. “We think we’ve done a good job of projecting costs and anticipating customer support,” he reports, “but there’s no way to know for sure until we get going. And there’s no way to be sure how the theaters and science center will actually function until we have them open.” At the same time, he says, they’ll be looking for more programming support and also will start to increase outreach to schools once things are running smoothly.

The building itself can sometimes be as entertaining as the programming. It has been designed so that visitors approaching or waiting in one area can see into another area and watch the activity there. And the use of bold, bright colors along with the sandstone and shale provides continual visual recreation.

Also attracting the eye will be artwork hung on a large wall that curves through the entire building. The first exhibit to be mounted will again tie the twin themes of science and art. Adequate funding means that creature comforts have not been overlooked in the construction. The beautifully colored carpets in each area are deep and soft. And chairs in both theaters are extremely comfortable. Rest rooms are richly appointed and the entire building creates an atmosphere of which we all can be proud.

As the Center staff says, facilities for the performing and visual arts traditionally have occupied a special place in the geography and architecture of cities. They are landmarks that enhance whole districts, spurring other growth. The Whitaker Center is expected to be an economic powerhouse, contributing to the city’s growing vitality by providing after-hours activities, stimulating business, attracting tourists, and offering an additional benefit to employers and employees considering relocating to the area.