Historic Tower District arts space has new owner. What’s next for Severance?

Dozens of people gathered in the upstairs ballroom of the Severance Building last week for an update on the fate of the 100-plus-year-old Tower District dance studio.

The gathering, organized by the property’s new owner and tenant, oscillated between a listening session brainstorm and a full-on neighborhood celebration. “This is the future home of Fresno Music Academy and Arts, at Severance,” said John Alden, who runs the music school with his wife, Debi Ruud.

Cut to cheers and applause.

The arts academy, which ran for decades as The Voice Shop before a rebranding in 2016, currently operates two locations: in the Tower District (on Wishon Avenue near the Tower Theatre) and north Fresno (at Cedar and Nees). It also runs The ViSTA Theatre and the recently opened Arts Annex Gallery.

The move will consolidate efforts.

The mirror- and barre-lined rehearsal spaces on the building’s bottom floor will be repurposed into multiple teaching rooms for the academy’s 450 to 500 students. That work will start soon and take a few months, according to Ruud.

As for the rest of the building, including its iconic upstairs ballroom? That’s slightly more open-ended, and the reason why the community was invited to Tuesday night’s meeting, which ran more than an hour. At one point, Ruud split the room calling of those gathered to brainstorm ideas on how they’d like to see the space used.

The dozens of ideas mostly revolved around creating an affordable, accessible venue space; some place to host textiles classes, or African drumming, the Rogue Festival, or concerts from the Fresno Folklore Society. The collected ideas will eventually be shared online and amended, Ruud said.

A History of performing arts in Fresno

The academy is continuing a tradition that goes back to 1922, when the Severance family built an 8,100 square-foot home and dance studio at the corner of Wishon and Floradora avenues, adjacent to The Shrine Of Saint Therese church.

The so-called Severance Ballet School operated there for the next 80+ years, under at least four different set of owners, until the late 2000s, when the space was refurbished and brought under the umbrella of the by-then-well known California Arts Academy.

The $1.2 million renovation removed the homier parts of the building and left a more modern dance studio, with a brand-new venue space upstairs, complete with a sprung-maple dance floor, wiring for stage lights and sound system and space for 200-plus dance, concert or theater goers.

“That’s all this thing has ever known,” Alden told the assembled audience Tuesday.

“It has never really known a life without the arts.”

That could have easily been lost, said Erika Leonard, a community member (and Fresno Music Academy and Arts student) who spoke at the meeting.

The memory of the Tower Theatre and the year-long controversy over its sale seemed implicit in the vibe of Tuesday’s meeting. Leonard lives in the neighborhood and walks her dogs by the building every day. When the ”For Sale” signs went up in February, with a price tag of nearly $1 million, “I thought, oh, s---.”

“It’s a heavy lift,” Leonard said.

And one that Fresno Music Academy and Arts couldn’t have made on its own.

Alden and Ruud said they were immediately inundated with calls from people who thought their school would be a perfect fit for the building. They even toured the property with the real estate agent, knowing of course, the idea was “beyond our scope,” Alden said.

Ultimately, they found a benefactor in David Brodie.

Brodie sings in Ruud’s the Hearts on Fire choir (Fresno’s only rock 'n’ roll choir) and knew that the academy was interested in the property. He bought the building so that it could be preserved as an art space; one that is available and responsive to the community. How that happens, is up to the Fresno Music and Arts Academy, which has signed on for a long-term lease, and also the neighborhood itself, he said.

“I’ve only done Act I. This show doesn’t end until Act III. Or five.”

This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 8:30 AM.