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The NFA Auditorium Restoration Campaign

Be a Part of Preserving History

In 1884, William Albert Slater, Class of 1875, offered to memorialize his father, NFA Corporator John Fox Slater, with a gift to build the Slater Memorial Building at Norwich Free Academy.

Designed by noted architect Stephen C. Earle in the Romanesque Revival style, Slater Memorial Building was dedicated in 1886 and opened in November 1888. The building was designed to house NFA’s library, an auditorium for the performing arts, and a gallery space for the Slater Memorial Museum.
 
Today, the Slater Auditorium serves as a home to Norwich Free Academy’s performing arts, hosts community meetings, class assemblies, and serves as a classroom for drama courses, as well as the annual Lillian S. Young Spelling Bee, arts award ceremony, and honor society inductions. 
 
Norwich Free Academy has launched an important project, funded through private donations, to begin the restoration of the historic auditorium. We will replace the seats, improve house lighting, install a new stage curtain, and repair the stained glass windows throughout the space. The project will be executed in phases as  private support is committed, with the project execution from 2024-2026.
An original architectural rendering of the Slater Memorial Building
A historical black and white image of the slater stage and the embroidered main curtain with %22NFA%22 above the stage proscenium

Help Us Build Towards the Future

A rendering of the updated Slater Auditorium stage, audience seating and lighting, from the stage looking back towards the rear of the room
A rendering of one of Slater Auditorium multi-purpose rooms to the rear of the auditorium
A rendering of the updated Slater Auditorium stage, audience seating and lighting, from the rear of the room

We invite you to join us as we preserve this historic space that is central to the story of Norwich Free Academy.

Gifts of $500 come with an opportunity to dedicate a new auditorium  seat in the names of family, friends, teachers, or other loved ones. 

Gifts of $5,000 and more will be recognized on a dedication panel commemorating the Auditorium Restoration Project.

For more information about supporting the NFA Foundation, Inc. and the NFA Auditorium Restoration Campaign, please contact Kathy McCarthy at mccarthyk@nfafoundation.org or 860-425-5547.