FIRST OFFICIAL CLASS WITHIN THE “PRINCESS PERFORMING ARTS, EDUCATION, AND CONFERENCE CENTER" BEGINS

The dream to bring arts education to students of Roane County began tonight in the Channel 15 studio in Harriman, with 12 area high school students attending.  Two others could not make it this first night, but will be present when the class convenes again next Tuesday at 4:30.

For nearly 13 years the dream has smoldered, but it wasn't until September of 2009, when the Princess Theater Board of Directors voted to accept the $1.7M donation from the Tennessee Valley Authority, that anyone ever really began to think the dream would ever come true.  Since that time, some new part of the dream comes true daily.  The restoration began in earnest with a new roof and the gutting of the wet, moldy, and rusted insides of the Princess.  

Then came Channel 15, leaping to life on the Comcast network and then the Internet!  It was this entity that showed a lot of people that this dream was really going to happen.

Today, these 12 students proved to us that others share the same dream.  They illustrated that there is a strong desire among the youth of our area, to reach for their future through mass media and the arts.  Now we know it all wasn't just a pipe-dream.  The dream for us all is coming true!  

True, for some, it won't be until the Princess awakens again, all bright and shinny, that most will begin to believe.  But for us that have been waiting all these years, we see it happening each and every day.