BANGOR – Gracie McCollum turns 5 next month, but she already understands the importance of keeping her public remarks brief. At Thursday’s groundbreaking of Husson College’s new Meeting House, which boasts a state-of-the-art 500-seat theater that will bear her name, Gracie took the microphone and turned to the crowd.

“Let’s dig dirt!” she exclaimed, then she grabbed a tiny shovel and got to work.

The Gracie Theater is an integral part of a $15 million, 55,000-square-foot facility that will serve as a focal point on campus. The Meeting House, which is scheduled to open in phases starting next fall, also includes classroom and faculty office space for the sciences and humanities; the Darling Atrium, a two-story public space named for Mary Ellen and Ed Darling of Glenburn; and the Cyr Alumni Center, named for Joe and Sue Cyr of Old Town.

These naming gifts put Husson within reach of its $6 million capital campaign goal, while the college will pick up the remaining $9 million.

“In old New England villages, the meetinghouse was a place where people came together, near the commons and the green,” Husson’s president, William Beardsley, told the group. “On this campus of 2,500 people, which has no academic and cultural gathering place, this will be our meetinghouse, next to our commons and Husson’s green.”

The complex fills a void on campus – both literally and figuratively. It completes the “circle” of campus buildings.

“It’s the first image you see on arrival,” said Kris Kowal of WBRC Architects-Engineers, the project’s architect. “This creates a collegiate, quad-type area between what’s existing and new.”

Because students must take classes in the sciences and humanities to fulfill Husson’s liberal arts requirements, the academic wing will see heavy use. It also will provide office space to nearly a third of the college’s faculty. The alumni center will house college archives as well as the hall of honors.

In the past, Husson has lacked a formal venue for concerts, public speaking events, convocation and theater productions. The addition of Bangor Theological Seminary to the campus also raised the need for a religious gathering place. The Gracie Theater will meet those demands while providing a new, midsize performing arts center for students and area residents.

“I felt it’s a wonderful thing for Husson,” said Gracie’s grandmother, benefactor Hilda Hutchins McCollum of Bangor, who joined her daughter and Gracie’s mother, Courtney McCollum, at the event.

Hilda Hutchins McCollum is known for her support of the arts – the Hutchins Concert Hall at the Maine Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus is named for her parents, and she has been a key fundraiser there.

“This is a small venue, as opposed to the Maine Center, and I just felt it was a good thing,” she said.

Campus officials were quick to point out that the facility is not meant to compete with Greater Bangor’s existing venues. Beardsley envisions a place where Maine-based musicians, actors and performers can show off their talents. It’s also a perfect fit for Husson’s endowed Kenduskeag Chamber Recital series.

In addition, the Gracie Theater’s design incorporates learning laboratories for students in the New England School of Communications. Instead of one small sound and lighting booth at the back of the house, this theater has three classroom-size booths. Husson worked with acoustic and theater consultants from Walters Storyk Design Group of New York to create an educational space that incorporates cutting-edge technology.

“Our students will use these as virtual classrooms during performances and rehearsals for sound and light,” said Thom Johnston, NESCOM’s president.

Johnston envisions majors in theater arts and drama in the not too distant future, as well as expanded opportunities for other NESCOM students who already have experience with backstage, “tech crew” duties. The theater has a built-in, second-story video booth, which will allow students and faculty to use the facility as a sound stage as well.

“The lab side of this has all kinds of potential,” Johnston said.

For John Rohman, a principal at WBRC and the chairman of the Maine Arts Commission, every aspect of the project has potential – for the campus and the creative economy.

“When you think of what it’s going to do for the arts in Bangor, when you think of what it’s going to do for Husson – it will give more opportunities for folks in the pharmacy school – that’s what we’re trying to attract,” Rohman said. “I’m really excited about this.”