HAMILTON — The Fitton Center for Creative Arts will see a major expansion in 2002, increasing its space by 50 percent with a 12,400-square-foot addition.

        The three-story, $3.6 million expansion will include enlarged art studios, soundproof music practice rooms, a student gallery, a gallery for traveling exhibits and a large technology studio.

        The capstone will be a 3,800-square-foot ballroom for arts center programming, to be available for community groups to rent.

        Primary donors Donna and Ralph “Pat” Carruthers, longtime Hamilton residents, committed $2.5 million to the project. The addition will be called the Carruthers Center for Arts and Technology.

        Fitton Center Executive Director Rick Jones is excited to be able to “step forward into technology and the arts. It will be a whole new avenue for learning.”

        He sees the Fitton Center, which serves about 50,000 people every year, becoming a technology resource center and even acting as a catalyst for a community information network system.

        Computer graphics and design classes will be added to the center's class schedule, and the distance-learning capability will be put to use for the Fitton's Riverside Academy and SPECTRA+ arts-in-curriculum program in Butler County schools.

        The Carruthers were honored in late November by the city of Hamilton for their philanthropy, which includes hospitals and public schools. “Whatever we do, we do for the public,” Mrs. Carruthers said.

        The couple's interest in fine arts began almost 30 years ago, when their only child, Sara, was encouraged to develop her vocal talent and went on to be a voice performance major.

        The addition to the Fitton Center, Mrs. Carruthers said, seemed an ideal way to marry the couple's interests in fine arts and public benefit.

        Mr. Jones expects a phased opening for the Carruthers Center, with the ballroom opening in June.

        The first and second floors are expected to be ready for use by late summer or early fall.

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