The Mizzou Alumni Association announced today that construction of an outdoor amphitheater will begin this summer. Traditions Plaza will be located at the north end of Carnahan quad and is part of MU's 175th anniversary celebration.
According the MAA executive director Todd McCubbin, Traditions Plaza will not only be a space for classes, concerts, pep rallies and other activities, but will also provide visitors and prospective students with a more complete history of MU's traditions.
"Well I think it's going to be a great gathering space, a great programming space, hopefully an educational space, you know for whether it's some class work or things like that," McCubbin said. "Also when folks come back or are visiting our campus we think there's going to be element of it where they can learn about Mizzou through some of the great traditions that are going to be represented throughout the stage of Traditions Plaza."
Alumni and students will also be able to purchase bricks for engraving. The bricks will cover the stage and columns of the structure and are available for purchase at www.missouri.edu/traditionsplaza.
"We're hoping this project is going to be a revenue positive situation that we'll be able to make some money off of those brick sales when it's all said and done," McCubbin said. "And it's a nice chance to build an endowment that can help support some of the great traditions we have at the university."
Missouri Student Association president Mason Schara says the outdoor space will offer new opportunities for student activities.
"I think it's honestly going to give some new locations for different activities to happen on campus," Schara said. "I know the department of student activities wants to do movies on it with our giant inflatable screen."
In addition to the programming place Traditions Plaza offers, Schara is also excited for how the structure will tie in campus tradition and history.
"It's going to be really cool because there isn't anything that collectively shows all of our different traditions so this is kind of something that's very unique for us," Schara said. "So I think having a location that has little markers telling our traditions and gathers them together is going to be something that helps to show incoming students or people that are visiting exactly what our campus has to offer and what we do for traditions here at Mizzou."