Last year, with Ithaca High School's Kulp Auditorium scheduled to be renovated, where were the students to perform, wondered George Myers, the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) musical liaison. With construction looming on the horizon, he approached the former supervisor of Bailey Hall, David Yeh.

The result: Cornell devised a special arrangement for the school district to use Bailey Hall free of charge this year to help them maintain their theatrical and music productions.

"Mr. Myers came to Bailey Hall, and we gave him a tour of the facilities. The facility, of course, would work for them," said William Esty, operations manager at Bailey Hall, who noted that Cornell is absorbing the costs for the school district this year. "We subsequently looked at the calendar of events at Bailey and compared them to the time periods the ICSD usually held their concerts, and everything worked out."

The first concert was held in December by the high school's orchestra, band and choir. In March, over Cornell's spring break, the high school's band, orchestra, chorus and vocal jazz ensemble presented the musical "Babes in Arms."

This presentation "was the most complex production and had highest level of collaboration" between Cornell and the ICSD, said David Kingsley, technical manager for Bailey Hall.

The Boynton Middle School Band recently performed May 13; upcoming performances include the Boynton's orchestra May 20 and the chorus May 27.

Jennifer Wholey '10 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.