Niswonger donates $15,000 to NPAC

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The man who got the Niswonger Performing Arts Center project moving in the first place with $3 million worth of seed money and a fresh architectural design was back in Van Wert Thursday to provide more enhancements for the facility.

Van Wert native Scott Niswonger, whose name is inscribed in gold letters inside the facility, donated another $15,000 to the NPAC to upgrade the center’s website and online ticket purchasing system.

The new website will make purchasing tickets at the performing arts center much easier, noted Tafi Stober, NPAC marketing director, making it similar to a TicketMaster or similar ticket purchasing site. That’s particularly important because a majority of NPAC ticket purchasers live outside Van Wert County. The new website will also provide much more information on the center’s events.

“We’ll be able to showcase more media about the events: more videos, a lot more vivid photography, and more images of the artists coming,” Stober said. “Not every artist that comes here is a household name, so this way when you take a chance on an artist coming that you really don’t know, you’ll be able to come onto our site and really peruse what they are all about, and you’ll be able to hear what they sound like.”

Stober also noted that the company redoing the site specializes in performing arts center websites. “We will be one of the smaller names in their portfolio, but we will get all of their insights and intuitive knowledge of the industry.”

Niswonger, who originally pledged $3 million as seed money to help build the nearly $10 million local performing arts center, said he felt providing money for a new NPAC website was a good investment, especially when he saw what a similar website was doing for a performing arts facility he helped build 10 years ago in Greenville, Tenn., where he now lives.

He also praised Van Wert area residents who also made significant donations to the local privately funded performing arts center complex.

The multimillionaire philanthropist, who provided the website donation through his company, Landair Inc., and his private Niswonger Foundation, said lessons learned building the Greenville facility, completed in 2004, were very valuable when the NPAC was constructed two years later.

“This is a phenomenal facility,” said Niswonger, who also brought three staff members from the Greenville facility to tour the NPAC. “We built this two years after we built the building in Greenville and I think this is absolutely perfect.”

Niswonger also touted the economic development and educational benefits of the NPAC. “This is just a linchpin for economic development and education in the community,” he said. “…having this facility at the school is a real advantage.”

Stober said that the new website, originally slated for completion by June 11, when the 2014-2015 NPAC season is unveiled, said the new site won’t likely be up and running until sometime in August.