Bakersfield College Maintenance and Operations manager Paula Bray is hard at work overseeing plans to renovate many buildings on campus.

The entire Speech Arts & Music building, which houses both the indoor and outdoor theaters, is going to be renovated from the inside of the classrooms to the landscaping of flowers on the outside.

“We believe that there will be many more performances in the facility now that we will actually have a facility that we can be proud of,” said Bray.

The renovations still need to be approved, and then the renovation process is estimated to take 18 months to construct.

Right now the maintenance office is looking for other locations on and off campus to hold all performing arts classes.

The condition of the building prevents the college from holding more events in the theaters. “There may have been one event,” Bray said. “And part of the reason is that the facility is aging and the seats are really passed their lifetime.” The outdoor theater seats cause a lot of dust because they are made out of deteriorating fiberglass.

Along with the renovation, new equipment will be set up. Right now, the outdoor theater doesn’t have the proper equipment for scenery on stage and a number of moving panels will be added to improve scene settings.

A screen will also be installed on the sides of the outdoor theater. The screen won’t cover the entire theater like a roof; it will act as a frame for the stage.

The indoor theater will have completely new seating that will be set up like a stadium. “You’ll be looking over the person in front of you rather than looking through their heads,” Bray said. “You’ll actually be able to have a better view of the stage.”

The new seating will also help people with disabilities, and there will be a number of different areas specially designed to accommodate persons with disabilities that can be chosen from.

The indoor theater will also have new lighting and sound equipment will be installed as well as new catwalks up across the top so the lighting can be put up safely.

“I know that the facility is going to be something that will be used much more frequently than it is right now because of the equipment that is going to be installed,” said Bray.

Currently whenever it rains, the rain runs down onto the stage and then leaks into the prop and scenery room. These leaks will also be repaired.

The projected budget for this project is $16 million.

After this summer semester the SAM building will not hold any classes inside and all equipment will be taken out.

After the renovations, the SAM building will be referred to a performing arts center, however it’s unknown if the actual name, Speech Arts & Music building, will be changed.

The SAM building isn’t the only project that is being worked on.

The earliest project behind the SAM building is work on the elevators in the Language Arts building and Math Science building that has been pushed through as an emergency repair.

The LA building’s elevator stopped working, and as a result the entire top floor of the LA building’s classes had to be moved to different locations to accommodate students with disabilities.

Work on these renovations could begin in the next six months.