Emerging in the fall of 2024, Renfrow Hall, the “mixed-use destination that links the town and the College together in shared experiences,” is just over a year old.
Now hosting events, the building connected to Renfrow, the Katherine Howell Weigart `61 Civic Innovation Pavilion, is emerging as a site to make this promise come true.
“The Pavilion is being used in a balanced way across several functions — public programs and lectures, community meetings, nonprofit convenings, student organization events, College-hosted civic and academic programming and small conferences or workshops,” wrote Donnette Ellis, community relations and grant coordinator, on behalf of herself and Sarah Smith, director of community and government relations.
Ellis wrote that she and Smith also see the Pavilion regularly used for events like Coffee with the College, Bucket Courses, community forums and partnership meetings.
“It functions as a ‘front door’ for the College downtown, while also serving as [a] flexible space for students and community partners,” Ellis added.
Ann Landstrom, assistant dean and director of global fellowships and awards, said while at the Clean Water Townhall hosted by the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement in the Pavilion that the town hall was a very community-based experience.
“I’ve seen momentum just in the last few months of more events happening in this space too,” Landstrom said. “There were some students here today, but it wasn’t a huge crowd, and I didn’t see a lot of Grinnell faculty-staff either.”
When the Pavilion is used for events hosted by the College, they are advertised through the Monthly Community Collections Newsletter, social media, the Grinnell College events calendar and other similar channels.
Community events primarily reach audiences through the Grinnell-Herald Register, flyers, the event hosts’ social media and partner mailing lists.
Rachel Rudacille `26 said that engaging more with the community in regards to the Pavilion would depend more on what the community wants.
“I would want the community to feel welcome in this space,” Rudacille said.
Kevin Kolbe, a current board member of the Grinnell chapter of the nonprofit 100+ People Who Care, said he does not think that Grinnell community members are dissuaded from entering the Pavilion.
“Part of this area was to invite the community,” Kolbe said of the Pavilion.
As of now, the Pavilion offers nonprofit organizations the ability to host events free of charge through June 2026.
Ellis wrote that, at this time, no decision has been made whether nonprofit organizations would have to pay to use the space after June.
“Any future decisions would be made thoughtfully, with careful consideration of how to avoid creating barriers to participation and to ensure the space continues to serve as a shared community resource,” Ellis wrote.
In addition to the location, size, and AV system, Kolbe listed the lack of cost to host events in the Pavilion as a contributing factor in why he chose to relocate his non-profit meetings. “The community couldn’t afford to deal with us because we don’t pay anything to use it,” he said.
“You end up in churches or community auditoriums of some kind, but this facility works really well for the community,” Kolbe added about one of the decisions to change the venue for his nonprofit to the Pavilion.
