The Hartselle Fine Arts Center will begin work on its new elevator and wheelchair accessible ramp soon, after receiving approval from the Hartselle Board of Education.

The Fine Arts Center, which is located in the old F.E. Burleson School, was leased to the Hartselle Historical Society for 99 years. The Fine Arts Center board of directors manages the day-to-day operation of the building.

“We’re just thrilled that they wanted to improve the facility and make it something the community can be proud of,” said Superintendent Mike Reed.

Kelley Redmond, director of the Fine Arts Center, said they’ve wanted to make the center handicap accessible for a while, but they just haven’t had the funding to do it.

“During just about every event we have, there’s usually at least one person with special needs that cannot come up the stairs,” Redmond said. “This is something we really need to make this a great place for community events.”

Because of that, the center is organizing the Project 11 fundraiser. Redmond is asking as many people as possible to give at least $11 by Nov. 11 of this year. The price tag on the elevator and ramp will be between $350,000 and $400,000.

“We understand that people are facing financial difficulties,” Redmond said. “We’re just asking everyone to give $11 by 11/11/11. Some can do more than that, but others may not. But we thought that $11 was probably something that everyone could give.”

The Fine Arts Center is already in the designing process to prepare the project for bidding. The first phase of the project will build a ramp and will also prepare the building for the installation of the elevator. Phase 2 will be the actual installation of the elevator.