The noble staff of the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center had to deal with a slight case of “chimney collapse” yesterday, as part of a brick smoke stack on the Farwell Street side of the building up and fell off. It hit the sidewalk in what we presume to be a cacophony of rubble, dust, and brick chips. But as no one was there to hear it, we can’t say with absolute certainty that it actually made a sound. Thank your chosen deity (or lack thereof) that no one was hurt.

We’d like to say the raining of bricks was due to a raucous, foot-stompin’ rehearsal of Guys and Dolls, but the official word is, “The chimney is old and part of it fell off. The rest of the structure is solid.”

The brick incident (or “brincident” as everyone cool is calling it) highlights certain things about the nature of ERAC and the State Theatre, in particular, how it’s funded and who’s responsible for things like “old useless chimney upkeep.” From the official Brincident Press Release:

• “We have a long list of facility needs, and this obviously moves to the top of the list, as safety concerns always do,” says Ben Richgruber, Executive Director. Among those needs are heating and ventilation updates, rigging and stage repair, and other deferred maintenance projects. When the State Theatre was renovated in the eighties, the full construction costs were never raised. According to Richgruber, the added debt has been carried over since then, and has made capital projects and building repairs difficult to fund.

So if you ever thought of donating to the region’s art center, now is a great time.