Overture Center Sustains Damage Friday, Saturday Nights
No injuries, but significant damage to the building, MMoCA Gift Shop
Overture Center sustained damage on two consecutive nights over the weekend. On Friday, a driver missed the curve on the corner of Dayton and State Streets and drove into the building. On Saturday, a group of individuals broke into the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) Gift Shop, damaged several windows of Overture Center, and spray painted graffiti across the exterior of the building.
The cause of Friday’s accident is not clear, but several people witnessed the car missing the corner and going into the building. The car went through a window, damaged a door and some of the stone masonry near the front entrance. The driver was able to drive away and has not been apprehended, but several people took photos. The police have this information.
Overture’s facilities team was assessing the damage and boarding up the windows Saturday. The director of facilities was present when approximately 30 individuals broke into the MMoCA gift shop, which sustained extensive damage. These individuals did not gain access to the rest of Overture Center.
No one was injured in either incident.
It is too early to determine the losses or the costs of all of the repairs.
Sunday morning, members of the Overture executive team surveyed the situation and damages to the building. There were several volunteers working to remove the graffiti from the building, including some Overture employees. The executive team noted that it was a very positive experience to see so many people pulling together to clean up the chaos from the night before.
