MADISON, Wis. — Officials said Madison School & Community Recreation’s new center on the west side will help them not only serve more people, but serve everyone better too.

MSCR has been operating for years in spaces that were too small for its programming. Scheduling was sometimes a nightmare because there was only so much room for each activity at a time.

Its new location is in the West Town Mall complex, where Stein Mart used to be. They now have 30,000 square feet to play with.

Ellen Karlson has been working with clay since 2011. She had been working in the old Hoyt School location’s pottery studio. It wasn’t built for that purpose, and it was cramped.

Now, she’s in the new studio. It’s huge and has extremely tall ceilings. It also has two indoor kilns instead of one.

“This space is so much better, and there’s so much more that can happen here,” Karlson said as she worked alongside her friend Leann Tigges.

The group has had some programs there so far, but the real “grand opening” will be this fall, when more activities are held there.

Art specialist Martha Hutchinson said the studio is about three times the size of the one they had at Hoyt.

However, that’s just one part of the building. The organization now has art classrooms, dance studios and meeting spaces. One of the most exciting spots is the new gymnasium. MSCR has never had one all to itself before.

“This gym is equipped to be for our volleyball programming, pickleball, we’ll have some youth basketball,” Hutchinson said.

The group has so many more possibilities going forward.

“We’ve been waiting so long, and the community’s been waiting so long,” Hutchinson said. “Now it’s so nice to present it and say, ‘ta-da, here we are!’”

The artists working in the improved pottery studio agreed.

“It just makes you feel like you can do the work that you wanna do,” Tigges said.

MSCR programming registration for the fall is Aug. 14 for Madison Metropolitan School District residents, and Aug. 28 for non-residents. For more information, click here.