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New Security Systems For ECISD
Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center #4 11/3/11
Tatum Hubbard
CBS 7 News
November 3, 2011
The idea behind the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center is much bigger than a stage.
According to Jack Wood, President of Western National Bank, “It also fits into a package as to what we need to recruit and retain people. We need people in the community. We need to grow.”
As the Permian Basin works to diversify and expand, research shows that companies look at several key factors when they decide where to build.
“The cultural aspects along with educational opportunities, transportation, health care – they all make up a wonderful package we have in the Permian Basin that we sometimes take for granted – but this again is the crown jewel.”
Lorraine Perryman, former Odessa Mayor adds, “It’s transformative for recruitment. Not just for the university, but for the economic development departments of both our chambers of commerce. Because one of the things we’ve always struggled with is the kind of cultural opportunity we can offer.”
Supporters believe the Wagner Noel will be a huge draw for people from all across the southwest, allowing us to compete for new businesses and industries.
But it will also support the businesses that are already here.
Wood says, “People were taking their money from this area to Lubbock, El Paso, Dallas or New York – not only spending money on entertainment, but also on hotels, restaurants and shopping. Now we become the beneficiary of that.”
Still, the people who supported this endeavor with their generous dollars had one primary goal in mind…impacting the next generation.
Perryman says, “I think of all those families that cannot afford to go to those places. For the first time everyone of those children, and in many cases their parents, will get to come to a venue like this and have world-class entertainment.”
And Nadine Craddick, Co-Chair of the Gala event and wife of State Representative Tom Craddick says “We have such a wonderful quality of life out here. This is just one more caveat to the future of our grand children and for the people of west Texas to have a state of the art facility.”