Laird Fine Arts Center to undergo major overhaul

MARSHFIELD – The Helen Connor Laird Fine Arts Center on the campus of UW-Stevens Point at Marshfield will undergo a major renovation and remodeling.

Campus, state, county and city leaders announced the project Aug. 11, as they also made public a $2 million grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

“This is a project that took about the last year-and-a-half to put together,” said campus executive, Tony Andrews, during a press conference Aug. 11 in the lobby of the Laird Center. “This is an incredible day. It is a long time in the making.”

“This grant secures a community center for the arts for years to come,” said Chancellor Robert Brinkmann. “This project will begin in the fall of 2027 and will provide needed updates to the Helen Connor Laird Theater, black box theater, dressing rooms, lobby areas and offices used by the Marshfield Campus Community Players, the Continuing Education performances, concerts by the Hub City Symphony and Hub City Winds and many other events.

“The grant also supports economic development for the city and county by expanding the way that the building can be used in the future,” Brinkmann added. “It’ll be used for community meetings, for conferences, and a variety of other groups can take advantage of larger updated spaces with technological upgrades.”

Wood County, which owns the facility, received the WEDC grant for the purpose of renovating artistic spaces within the Laird Fine Arts building. The grant will be managed by an advisory committee which includes representatives from Wood County, UWSP, the City of Marshfield, the Universities of Wisconsin and the Laird Endowment for the Arts, which also contributed $400,000 toward the project.

“I do want to thank the Laird family,” said Andrews. “Former Congressman Laird and John Laird, the chairperson of our Laird Committee. Incredibly supportive. I want to thank the members of the Laird Committee. It was their donation that allowed us to say that this community really believes in the arts and we want this to happen, and that was a big part of making this happen.”   

“I was thinking this morning about the founders of this campus and Sec. [Melvin] Laird,” said Donna Rozar, Wood County Board of Supervisors representative and UW Commission chairperson, during her Aug. 11 remarks. “I wonder what they would think seeing us here today and seeing that we have been willing to make the effort and the investment. They must be proud. They had a real vision for this campus and what it could be to the community. The arts, the cultural opportunities that it’s going to bring are just exciting.”

“I look forward to working with the advisory board,” Rozar added. “You guys know the devil’s always in the details, and so the advisory board’s got a lot of details that they’re going to have to come up with and I look forward to working with them as we really maximize the investment that we’re making here.”

“I don’t think it’s any secret that a lot of our two-year campuses have faced some significant challenges around the state, which is why you’ve seen some of them be converted or sold off, but not here,” said Sen. Patrick Testin, co-chair of the state legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which allocated the funding to make the WEDC grant possible. “It just goes to show that the investment is critical, that there is buy-in here, which is why I was so happy to work alongside my colleagues, like Rep. [John] Spiros and others, to make sure that the intent was made.”    

“A number of years ago we thought there was the potential of losing this college, just as UW was taking a look at all the satellites, and I’m happy this is one that continued on,” said Rep. Spiros, Marshfield. “These funds are to be used to make improvements for the Laird Fine Arts Theater Building to be more viable in the community.”

“For sixty-some years, citizens of Marshfield have been walking through this door,” Mayor Nick Poeschel said, during his Aug. 11 remarks. “Some of them have been students. Some have come here to sell tickets at the box office. Some have come here to perform on the stage. And a great many of them have come here to watch a show or to see an art display or a cultural event in this building. So I’m excited to have an update to this building.”

According to the UWSP at Marshfield website, the Helen Connor Laird Fine Arts Building was initially completed in 1971. The building houses the 340-seat Helen Connor Laird Theatre, the Fine Arts Gallery, and the UW Box Office for ticket sales on the building’s main level. An arena-style Black Box Theatre and rehearsal and practice rooms for theatre and music students are found on the lower level.

The building was officially named by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents in 1984 to honor the memory of Helen Connor Laird (1888-1982). A lifelong resident of Marshfield, Laird was the first female president of the Marshfield Board of Education and a member of the UW Board of Regents (1951-1959).

Many of the arts programs which are presented in the Helen Connor Laird Fine Arts Building are made possible by the Laird Fund for the Arts, established and sustained by the family of Helen Connor Laird.