By LINDSAY DYESS / Community Columnist

The public is invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Shelby County Arts Center at Old Mill Square on Thursday, May 31 at 8:30 a.m.

The Old Mill Square municipal complex will be located on West College Street in Columbiana. The new arts center will feature the Ebsco Fine Art Gallery, a 200-seat black box theater, expanded visual arts classrooms for drawing, painting and pottery, a metal-work foundry and expanded studios for music lessons.

In addition, a 500-seat municipal mixed-use venue will be part of the project. The Shelby County Arts Center is made possible by a collaboration with Shelby County, the City of Columbiana and the Shelby County Arts Council.

“We believe the infusion of arts and cultural opportunities into a community raise the value of that community at potentially every level. The arts are not just about entertainment and enrichment; the arts are transformational and redemptive by design,” SCAC executive director Bruce Andrews said.