By celia r. baker

| Special to The Tribune

Price » Last week, the music building on the college campus reeked of air freshener meant to mask the stink of water leaks, and a chilly wind whistled in through the inch-wide gap above the doors of the 1960s-era building. The ill-fitting doors and cracking exterior walls attested that structural separation is pulling the building apart at its seams.

The Geary Theater, next door, has similar settlement issues, but deadlier problems. Its looming fly-space — three stories of unreinforced masonry — is topped by a roof that isn’t seismically attached to the walls. Such hazards are especially worrisome in a building that serves as a cultural gathering place for the sprawling Eastern Utah region.

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The problems in the arts buildings on the Utah State University Eastern | College of Eastern Utah campus have been detailed in the college’s annual funding requests for the past several years. Failing electrical and mechanical systems in both buildings consign students and patrons to shiver or swelter, but the college doesn’t want to invest in major overhauls for buildings it hopes to replace.

Though state fire marshals recently deemed the buildings to be habitable, they lack fire sprinkler systems in some areas, and the Geary’s stage and music building’s upstairs classrooms are inaccessible to people with physical disabilities. Restrooms fall short of ADA compliance, as well.

The outdated designs of the buildings make them inadequate for their educational purposes, said USU Eastern vice chancellor of administration and advancement Brad King. The theater’s lack of rehearsal space creates scheduling nightmares, as no other group can use the stage when a college play is in production.

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Less than high-school quality » Efforts to replace the dilapidated buildings with a $24 million arts and education building started in 2002, yet the new arts center keeps sliding downward on the state’s budget priority list. Meanwhile, USU Eastern’s old arts buildings sink inexorably toward the underground stream that runs beneath their foundations.

One reason the Utah Legislature cites for de-prioritizing the school’s new arts center is that its enrollment stagnated during the latest round of hard times in Carbon County, while other Utah colleges have seen enrollment surges.

The irony stings, according to Greg Benson, vice chancellor for academic affairs. USU Eastern has increased recruitment efforts, but the aging arts facilities near central campus are a deterrent for potential students.

High school students who visit the school are unimpressed by the dismal buildings, which King considers inferior to most high school arts facilities in Utah. And fewer students have occasion to visit the campus than in the past. Many of the events that brought them to the campus have moved on, often to high schools with superior venues.

"Any time the college can host a history fair, solo and ensemble festival, or some high school competition, we are eager to do so," Benson said. "We accommodate those to the extent that we can, given our facilities. With a different facility in place, we would be in a better position to offer ourselves to groups of that kind."

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Gown and town » Carbon County’s economy has been hard-hit by declines in the coal industry and the national recession, and the area’s population has been shrinking. Price mayor Joe Piccolo said keeping USU East | CEU viable is an essential key to rejuvenating the Eastern Utah region.

The campus is the region’s second largest employer, and has an important role in building a new economy for Carbon County. "I believe a literate community is a healthy community," Piccolo said.

Arts programs at the college entwine with Price City’s efforts to add cultural value to the area, Piccolo said, as the two entities cooperate to produce annual "Messiah" performances, and other musical and theatrical offerings. The college’s facilities function as a regional cultural center that draws audiences from across thousands of square miles to attend and participate in the high-quality theater and music performances sponsored by CEU.

Salt Lake City physician Brian Peterson, who lived in Price from 1997 to 2007, was pleasantly surprised by the cultural opportunities he found locally. Peterson is a bassoonist who performs currently with the Orchestra at Temple Square, and substitutes in the reed section of the Utah Symphony. While practicing medicine in Price, Peterson participated in the Eastern Utah Wind Symphony, a college-community ensemble founded by Benson, who was formerly a music professor.

"Price might not be considered a cultural center of the universe, but the music we played was fairly advanced, and performances were of high quality, especially for a community of that size," Peterson said. "The people were exposed to good music, and they expected it. The college had good theater and arts programs."