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Indian Mountain School unveils new performing arts center

Indian Mountain School unveils new performing arts center

Interior of the new Qianxum Performing Arts Center.

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LAKEVILLE — The Indian Mountain School officially opened a new performance space last week.

The new Qianxun Performing Arts Center is where the old gym used to be.

It seats 290 people and the acoustics are excellent — not anything like an echoey gym.

On Saturday evening, Feb. 1, the school was celebrating the Lunar New Year. It is the Year of the Snake.

Students surged to and fro, most of them decked out in Chinese garb — brocaded silk jackets and the like.

Danny Tieger, Director of Performing Arts at the school, showed a reporter the spacious backstage area and noted that the seating is retractable, which provides maximum flexibility for different uses.

Before Saturday’s lineup of Lunar New Year performances, Sarah Smith, Assistant Head of School for External Relations, took the stage to thank the major donor, Limin Kong, and her daughter Qianxun “Tiffany” Zhao — IMS class of 2023 — for whom the facility is named.

Smith said that Limin Kong is a former Indian Mountain School parent and trustee.

“And even a faculty member when she stepped in to teach Mandarin for a term.”

Her daughter, Qianxun Zhao, is a student and musician at Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

“What was once an old gym has been reimagined into a space where creativity will flourish, where our students will find their voices, and where they will develop lasting friendships,” said Smith.

Patrick L. Sullivan
Senior Reporter
Patrick Sullivan has been a reporter for The Lakeville Journal since 2004, covering everything from town meetings to local characters and the outdoors. He grew up in Northern Virginia but spent summers on Mount Riga in Salisbury, giving him a lifelong connection to the Northwest Corner. A graduate of Denison University, Patrick is also the author of Tangled Lines, the newspapers’ popular fly-fishing column—making The Lakeville Journal, as far as anyone knows, the only newspaper in Connecticut with a regular fly-fishing columnist. He once received a fan letter from England, which he considers sufficient evidence that his work has achieved international acclaim.
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