TICONDEROGA, N.Y. (WCAX) – A new round of state funding for downtown projects means new life for an iconic building in Ticonderoga, New York.
Nearly $9 million from New York’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative is heading to Ticonderoga to transform the downtown. Among the projects being funded is $2.1 million for a new Adirondack Performing Arts Center.
“This performing arts center is going to be catalyst for our community,” said Nicole Justice Green with Pride of Ticonderoga. “Industry has left and then we are left with these beautiful historic buildings. and we have wonderful visitors in the summer and then our towns go quiet.”
Green says the solution is to bring back performances and other events that will help lure people to Ticonderoga. “When the fort is having a large reenactment in the summer, instead of people coming up for the day and leaving, we plan an event for the following day,” she said.
Green says it’ll cost around $3 million to revamp the building, which includes buying it from the Knights of Columbus and upgrades to comply with ADA rules. Once finished, she says the third floor will act as a concert hall while the second floor will be occupied by the nonprofit We Are Instrumental.
“Since 2020, we have collected over 450 instruments that have been refurbished and fixed up and now in the hands of kids in 27 different schools,” said the group’s Evan Mack. The new center will mean a permanent space for the nonprofit’s operations, which he says will allow kids in the region to use instruments and receive lessons. “You want jobs-arts? You want to change the culture-arts? You want to teach a kid to have self-discipline, motivation, the ability to wall off the world and focus? Give him an instrument.”
Green says they hope to have work completed in the next two years.