Lake County Arts Center
persevering today, creating tomorrow.
Midwest Young Artists Conservatory is excited to share our vision to create a beautiful new facility with a world-class concert hall that can be used by MYAC for needed rehearsal and performance space, that will also be a regional destination attractive to Lake County communities, businesses and other cultural arts organizations, particularly those focused on young people.
Through this vision, we hope to build an exceptional place where young people — through music and the performing arts — gain a sense of purpose, self-confidence, diligence, and respect for themselves and others, as well as bring beauty and joy into all of our communities.
Original building, designed by Holibird & Roche, completed in 1893, served as The Stockade at the Fort Sheridan Army Base
the past…
MYAC has celebrated over 30 seasons, and has been clearly blessed with incredibly good fortune.
In the summer of 1994, just a year after the organization was started, MYAC was awarded a building at Fort Sheridan by the U.S. Department of Education, which they ended up swapping with the developer of the decommissioned army base.
Six years later, in June of 2000, MYAC moved into the Old Stockade Building at Fort Sheridan, mortgage-free and completely rehabbed to accommodate ensemble rehearsals and music education classes.
MYAC's 2016 Summer Evening Orchestra Concert
the present…
Since MYAC moved into its current building in June 2000, its choral, jazz, orchestra & chamber music programs have expanded, the number of students has doubled, and 75+ concerts & events are presented by the organization each year. However, despite MYAC's best efforts to accommodate the large groups of people that pass through its doors, it is bursting at the seams. On any typical rehearsal day, cello cases line the walls, students sit on the floors in packed hallways waiting for rehearsals, staff members work in closets in order to support students who want to practice in their own rooms, and the lobby is filled to capacity with students and parents.
MYAC, in addition to other youth art groups throughout Lake County, expands into the community, finding performance spaces in personal houses, school gyms and auditoriums, recreation centers, as well as concert halls on the campuses of Northwestern University and Ravinia. A large line in each year of MYAC’s operating budget goes towards concert venue rental costs.
the future…
In July of 2010, four plus acres to the west of the Old Stockade Building became available for sale from the U.S. Department of the Navy. After protracted negotiations, MYAC acquired this vacant land in September of 2013, saving the organization from a housing development surrounding an already busy music school and overflowing parking lot.
As many know, MYAC has had the dream of a Lake County Arts Center on this land. The City of Highwood put it into their 2013 Comprehensive Plan (p.38). Before the pandemic, MYAC had a different design for a concert hall and shared it with the neighbors who gave us lots of feedback. We took this feedback to heart and Booth Hansen has designed a building lower than our current facility, going into the ground 15 feet.
The proposed Performing Arts facility addresses not only a need for Midwest Young Artists but represents a significant cultural benefit for the community and the surrounding area.
Gains for Lake County Businesses from this project:
Attract and retain a skilled work force. The Conference Board found that creativity is among the top 5 skills needed. The top criteria of creativity is: starting your own business and/or studying arts in college. Nobel Laureates are 17 times more likely to be involved in the arts.
Make it easier to attract young workers to Lake County. They say “Where do I want to live?” and then go there and put jobs/work together. New economy workers want great restaurants, arts and culture.
Young families want convenient, excellent opportunities for their children to study music and attend concerts.
90% agree arts institutions are important to quality of life; 85% agree arts institutions are important to local businesses and the economy.
“Having spent the last 50 years immersed in the arts on the North Shore, I can say unequivocally that what is sorely needed is an arts center which will provide, among other things, a concert hall, not only for the talented young musicians of MYAC, but also for the many orchestras, dance groups, and other arts organizations located in Lake County. I support this ambitious venture wholeheartedly.”
— Larry Block, Founder & General Manager, Highland Park Strings
Support MYAC and create the future for our next generation.