Rock Lititz plans to build an education center worth $ 10 million Local business

The state is paying half of the cost of construction as Rock Lititz plans to begin construction of a $ 10 million education center that is expected to accommodate about 50 jobs as it works to address the shortage of workers in the live entertainment industry.

A $ 5 million state grant for Rock Lititz comes from the Pennsylvania Revelopment Assistance Capital Program, or RACP. This is the largest of four grants announced last week for projects in Lancaster County. Other grants go to the Lancaster Visitor Center, the Lancaster Life Sciences Incubator and the Lancaster YWCA.

For its project, called the Pod 1A Education Center, Rock Lititz has pledged $ 5 million in private funding. The state grant will go to the facilities and construction of the building, including the construction of three tenants of the building. Construction is expected to begin this spring with a completion date of April 2023, the company said in its grant application.

“To best serve our customers, tenants and industry, Rock Lititz has a long-term vision that includes cultivating the next generation of leaders and professionals in the live event industry,” Rock Lititz CEO Andrea Shirk wrote in an email. LNP. | LancasterOnline. “We are grateful to the state for supporting our search to add an educational institution to the Rock Lititz campus that will help secure our leadership in the entertainment industry.”

The 29,227-square-foot Pod 1A Education Center will be built next to two rehearsal studios, Rock Lititz, Studio 1 and Studio 2, the company said in its grant application.

Studio 2 has opened with fanfare earlier in April. This additional rehearsal space is designed to keep the campus of entertainment ahead of its successors. It complements Rock Lititz Studio 1, which opened in 2014 and was so taken away that organizations had to expand or lose customers elsewhere.

The 8-year-old Rock Lititz and its 96-acre production campus, located a quarter west of Route 501 in Warwick, have become a rehearsal Mecca for the biggest music names and an economic driver for Lancaster County as the world’s first business campus for the live events industry. . The campus is home to 1,500 employees working in 35 entertainment companies, two restaurants, two bars and a boutique hotel with 139 rooms. In addition, every year about 2,000 union workers come to rehearsals.

Rock Lititz did not specify the number of workers needed in the industry in his application.

Rock Lititz said in his application that once the education center is built, it plans to work in conjunction with “the public school system, career and technology schools and the higher education system to meet this unmet need” in workers.

“Through the state’s partnership with Rock Lititz, the live software industry has become a driver of economic development, increased tourism and cultural engagement, and a net exporter of goods and services to the global market,” Rock Lititz wrote in his application for RACP Funds. “However, there is a shortage of skilled workers needed in order to keep up with the rapid growth of the industry and the increasing demand for these industrial goods and services. In particular, there are no trade schools or universities in the software that would focus on training the workforce for this industry. The project seeks to meet this need by building an educational center on the Rock Lititz campus to house the University (Backstage Academy), the Blackbird Academy and the Clair Global Training Center. ”

The building will be built to accommodate three tenants: Backstage Academy (13,849 square feet), Blackbird Academy (8,679 square feet) and Clair Global Training Center (6,699 square feet).

Backstage Academy is a university in the United Kingdom that offers short courses as well as graduate and postgraduate diplomas in the production and design of live events. Blackbird Academy is an audio engineering school in Tennessee founded by sound engineer John McBride and his wife, country artist Martina McBride. Clair Global manufactures sound equipment that is part of the sound systems it develops, collects and rents out pop, rock and country bands on tour. Clair Global is already close to the Rock Lititz campus.

Since 2013, Rock Lititz has received $ 5.5 million from the RACP for the creation of two studios. He also recently received a Pennsylvania Office of Industrial Development A low-interest loan of $ 2 million to fund the Studio 12 supplement of $ 12 million.

The State RACP is a general funding program aimed at regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical projects that are not eligible for primary funding under other government programs. Applications are made and commented on by the public. Awards are announced twice a year.

To qualify for funding, a project must increase or maintain current levels of employment, tax revenue, or other economic performance, and the developer must contribute to the project at least as much money as the grant amount.