The student members of the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band have their own space on the Los Angeles campus for the first time in the group’s 138-year history. The 7,000-square foot facility is a refurbished version of the second floor of the existing General William Lyon University Center which previously housed a gym, fitness center, and recreational sports offices.
“This is the first place that will be 100 percent ours,” said Stephanie Lamb, a third-year piccolo player and the band’s general manager to USC News. “It was literally built for us when they renovated the building.”
The Band Pavilion includes dedicated men’s and women’s locker rooms, instrument and uniform storage, a student lounge and a spacious rehearsal space. Previously, band members were forced to change inside the cramped administrative basement office in Stonier Hall and had to rent indoor rehearsal space from other university departments.
In the fall of 2016 band members Corey Dennis and former Halftime Magazine intern Emily Moneymaker brought these challenges to the attention of USC President C.L. Max Nikias at a student meet-and-greet. After Nikias toured the inadequate space, he vowed to find a new venue for the program. Earlier this spring, after nine months of renovation, the space opened to students.
The naming of the space as the “Dr. Arthur C. Bartner Band Pavilion” was revealed at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday, May 6 a at 2:00pm by Nikias.
The opening of the pavilion comes in the midst of the $20 million “USC Trojan Marching Band Initiative Honoring the Legacy of Arthur C. Bartner,” an effort to secure the future of the organization beyond 2020, when Bartner plans to retire as band director after fifty years. In addition to improving the band’s facilities, the Initiative aims to endow scholarships for every band member, support the band’s football trips, and help renew and upgrade its inventory of instruments and uniforms every eight to 10 years.