Guide to Venue Selection
Performance Venues
(Rieth Recital Hall, Sauder Concert Hall, Umble Center)

For a small campus, we have many great venues from which to choose for events.

The Music Center:

The Music Center is the newest event facility on campus.  It is home to Rieth Recital Hall and Sauder Concert Hall, as well as many classrooms.  It also houses the Abner Hershberger Art Gallery, which showcases the works of local artisans as well as Goshen College students.  This is a world-class facility that is a perfect location for weddings, recitals, and other special events. 

 

Sauder Concert Hall:  Sauder Concert Hall is the largest event facility in the music

center, with a 900-seat auditorium.  All of the Performing Arts Series events are held in Sauder Hall, as well as the Goshen College Orchestra and Choir concerts.  This facility is excellent for large programmed events, from recitals to speakers to galas. 

Rieth Recital Hall:  This venue is located

next to Sauder Concert Hall and the Hershberger  Art Gallery, within the Music Center.  Rieth Rec ital Hall is a beautiful setting for weddings, recitals, banquets, and other special programs and events.  The seating in Rieth can be altered to accommodate the specific needs of the event.  This facility can seat 250 people for a concert or lecture, and 150 people for a banquet.  Rieth also houses a Taylor and Boody organ, which features more than 1600 pipes and was dedicated to Goshen College in May, 2005.

For more information regarding the Music Center, please visit http://www.gcmusiccenter.org/ .

Music Center Lobby: The Music Center Lobby is a wonderful space available

for receptions and dinners.  This slightly curved open space welcomes the outdoors inside with its wall of windows that provides wonderful natural light and a view into the courtyard and fountains.  For an additional cost there is a kitchenette available for rental.    

Umble Center: Umble Center is another great facility on campus to hold lectures,

shows, and programs.  Umble is home to the Goshen College Theater Department, and all of their theater events and shows are held here.  This facility can hold over 400 people, and can be used for numerous purposes. 

Internally, as we select performance venues for events, we need to consider these factors:

• Setup costs -- Would it be as appropriate to hold your event in AD28 or Umble Center where the seats are stationary, rather than in Rieth, for example, where chairs need to be set up.
• Audiovisual costs --The Rieth Recital Hall and the Sauder Concert Hall are not equipped with all the projection and audiovisual equipment you might find in other similar spaces on campus. It is not equipped with the projection screen that we're accustomed to in the Umble Center Auditorium . Although some equipment can be brought it, it is not readily available and will require additional labor and rental expense to get things set up.
• Production crew -- Because performance venues have emergency procedure requirements and have expensive equipment (like acoustical curtains, etc. ), it is important that someone trained in the use of the space be present during the use of the hall . Therefore, you will want to consider these additional costs when planning for use of these spaces. These additional costs are generally not needed in AD28 or NC19.
• Alternate venue -- Where has this event been held in the past? Is there a reason that a new venue is being considered? Often many of our prior venues have been set up with equipment and items to support the events that have historically been held in that space. When we begin to request additional spaces for those events, we need to make an institutional decision:  Do we need multiple spaces ready to support these events, or can the prior spaces continue to be considered and used?

We want to encourage the use of the Music Center venues and Umble Center when applicable, but in order to respect schedules of both the building and our service providers, it is important to encourage event planners to ask these important questions.