In recent years, worn stage flooring was replaced to allow dance troupes to perform. The University commissioned two reports to look at the structural and functional needs of the facility as a museum and performance center. The first was in 1998. The second Maine Center for the Arts study, completed last July, related to the conditions and quality of the overall facility. The most recent report cited such problems as the wool carpet throughout the facility, which in 1998 was found to be a breeding ground for carpet beetles.
Carpet beetles can be detrimental to museum artifacts made with skin, hair or feathers.
The results of the studies have raised public consciousness that changes are needed and now is the time. The Maine Center for the Arts is a capital improvement priority that has been with us for some time. Bryand Global Sciences, the Union and Class of '44 Hall had to come first. MCA is tentatively scheduled to close its doors to the public in January 2002. Renovation is expected to take six months to a year.