DE PERE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – De Pere’s new state-of-the-art cultural center is opening this week.
From concept to construction and now completion, it took nearly a decade for the Mulva Cultural Center on the east side of the Fox River to come to life.
“We’re trying to stimulate the interests of all age groups to come here and experience things that they might have never experienced before,” said Jim Mulva. “That’s really the genesis of the give back to the community and why the cultural center has been formed.”
Created and curated by De Pere natives Jim and Miriam Mulva, the cultural center is their $100 million gift to their hometown.
“They are involved on a daily basis with the activities going on,” said Tom Shefchik, the center’s executive director of community relations. “They’re setting their vision and they’re setting us up in the right way that we can continue to carry on the vision for decades and generations to come. So we are very thankful for their influence and their involvement.”
About two years after construction of the space began, the Mulva Cultural Center is finally ready to open to the public.
“We can’t underestimate, and no one should, the value of this contribution, what this will mean to the city of De Pere and the surrounding communities. You just can’t. You can’t quantify this because there’s nothing like this,” said De Pere Mayor James Boyd.
The grand staircase catches your attention as soon as you walk in the door.
The first-floor atrium, currently host to a free exhibit of landscape photography, leads visitors to the seating area of a gourmet on-the-go-cafe and coffee shop.
The Mulva plans to open an upscale casual restaurant early next year.
There is also classroom space, a gift shop, and a 200-seat auditorium on the first floor, too.
“Anybody that is interested in arts and culture — we don’t want to be pigeonholed into just children’s art or natural history, we want it to rotate and see a lot of different things so that there’s a variety of different things that can be coming and the ever changing model is intriguing,” said center president Marv Wall.
Upstairs is 10,000 square feet of exhibition space.
Ladies and Gentlemen…The Beatles!, along with And the Grammy Goes to… are the first two featured exhibits.
The idea of the Mulva is to bring in films, shows, and exhibits you can’t see anywhere else.
“There’s something here for everyone,” Shefchik said. “They really will enjoy looking at the different features of the facility, enjoying the outdoor spaces in warmer months, and as the facility opens even more we’ll have many more opportunities for people to enjoy the spaces and the offerings within it.”
It’s a space the Mulvas hope people from De Pere, surrounding areas, the state and across the country will come to enjoy.
Jim Mulva retired as the chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips in 2012. He and his wife, Miriam, have donated at least $100 million to Miriam’s alma mater, St. Norbert College, and the surrounding community.
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