There are many considerations that often go into school performing arts facilities. Budget is an obvious one and you cannot assume that the budget to do it right is always available at the same time the need to do something is there, although how that dilemma is handled can vary greatly.
Politics can be a factor. I have had multiple school districts that had less than ideal existing facilities and were concerned about improving the new facilities too much as it could result in complaints from those assigned to the older facilities. I quite literally had one school district hire us to look at what could be done better within the money they were spending only to then have them not implement some of the proposed changes in order to make the new facilities less dissimilar from the existing spaces. Another district had us not include the mixing
console as an part of the
system but rather to design for a
console that the high school would provide itself, a solution to the school wanting to utilize a nicer
console than what was in other existing theatres in the district schools. Ironically, the
console they thought they had turned out to be an empty case, no idea where the
console was, and they had an unusable sound
system until the
theatre groups came up with the money for a new
console.
The long term/short term perspective is also a potential factor. Most performing arts facilities are viewed as long term facilities, which means sometimes looking beyond, or over, the
current users and applications. I have experienced direct conflicts between the administration's long term goals for a facility and the goals of the
current users to the
point that it was not
practical to reconcile the two. This is sometimes hard to accept, but from the administration's perspective the facility does not belong to the
current students or instructors, it belongs to the school district and thus they are the ones that make the decisions.
Standards can also be enter into the result. I've seen a local high school plan a very nice
theatre only to then have the school district's design standards imposed upon it resulting in a Scene Shop with 7' doors and Music Practice Rooms with door widths that would not allow a piano to be moved into the rooms. A school district in another state had 'standard' audio and lighting
system packages, which were simply equipment lists, and the
system designer's
role for new facilities was limited to figuring out how to apply those standard components to spaces that were definitely not as standardized.
And of course the usual 'low, qualified bid' problems related to both consultants/designers and contractors have already been noted. Making this even more of a problem in some cases are Purchasing Agents who seem to feel feel their
role is to get the lowest price, the don't have the technical expertise to
address the value but they can understand the related dollars and cents. Just to be
clear, I have worked with Purchasing people who were a joy to work with and a great benefit to the project, but just like most things, it seems that for every one of those there was one who had a very myopic view.
I don't mean to paint a picture of hopelessness, that is not at all the case. Based on my experience, the important thing is to recognize that there are many factors that can be part of the process and to learn to work within that environment. Some issues can be addressed with fairly simple things such as focusing on prioritizing your goals and needs rather than simply presenting a laundry list of everything and leaving it up to others to decide which are priorities. Other issues involve relationships, being seen by the Administration as a positive resource looking out for the general good rather than someone with their own personal agenda. Some things you can do relate to details, such as including some less important items that you can trade-off for more important ones while being perceived as making compromises. And some are homework, finding out about any standards or political issues that may apply prior to developing your own 'wish list' and working to resolve any internal conflicts as early as possible. Having a Consultant involved can certainly help in many areas and provide a 'disinterested third party' perspective, but it is still often how well you '
play the game' that matters as much as the technical expertise or experience.