Creativity starts with a blank canvas. The composer doesn’t know the notes. The actor doesn’t have words. It’s only through hard work, commitment and determination that creativity emerges from someplace empty.

Just outside of Cedar Ridge High School lies another kind of blank canvas – a large construction site. It can be hard to visualize what will emerge from that space. Using the same techniques that produce artistic results, the creativity of carpenters, technicians and dozens of other construction workers will create a new fine arts auditorium for the campus.

The Cedar Ridge Fine Arts Auditorium is funded through Bond 2014, which allocated $19.5 million to construct the facility. The 750 seat auditorium will feature a full stage with rigging, a green room, an orchestra pit and a scenery shop.

A new auditorium that showcases the creative skills of students is a point of pride for the campus, as well as the district and community. “The Cedar Ridge Fine Arts Auditorium will be a world-class facility that will allow students opportunities for performing and hands-on technical theatre experience,” Director of Fine Arts Lisa Roebuck said. “Round Rock ISD is committed to creativity and real-world experiences, and this new auditorium will allow families and the community to see this excellence up close and at its best.”

Creation can sometimes be messy, and this auditorium project is no exception. The campus has taken steps to alleviate and adjust to the realities of becoming an active construction site. Several roads and pathways around the area are being closed or rerouted, creating a way for construction traffic not to interfere with regular school traffic.

Construction conditions have not affected the campus-wide enthusiasm for this new auditorium. There is a sense of pride to have a new home for the hard-working students and staff that make up the fine arts on campus.

“We are thrilled to have a permanent home for the outstanding fine arts programs at Cedar Ridge,” Cedar Ridge Principal Lynette Thomas said. “While the construction will shift some everyday driving and parking routines, everyone at Cedar Ridge understands that these temporary inconveniences are worth it for the long-term growth of our campus.”

While the community awaits the new auditorium, slated to be open by August 2017, the Cedar Ridge fine arts community understands that the symphony of bulldozers, dump trucks, and cranes will work in harmony to create a new home for their works of art.