It took 13 years and two bond measures to get it done. When the $80 million Visual and Performing Arts Complex at Cabrillo College holds its grand opening this weekend, the college and the community will begin to reap the rewards.

Free tickets to the three opening performances — starring past and present faculty and students in dance, drama and music — were all given away in less than an hour last week.

“When we started planning this, we knew that the community would respond,” said Dan Martinez, dean of visual and performing arts, “but we had no idea that people would respond the way they did.”

The complex — 122,300 square feet of space — is made up of five buildings, including the 150-seat Black Box Theater, the 369-seat music recital hall and the 581 seat Crocker Theater. There are also buildings dedicated to both two-dimensional and three-dimensional art (which opened last fall), along with 15 music practice rooms, four music rehearsal spaces and studios for acting, recording, drawing and design.

“Because of all the new features, the potential is just out there for great things,” Martinez said.

There will be an open house with tours, demonstrations, interactive art and more on Saturday (October 10) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It’s a dream. It’s an absolute dream,” said Wilma Marcus Chandler, director of the gala performance.

Cabrillo is the “crown jewel” of the community colleges when it comes to the arts, said Chandler, who taught theater arts there from 1969 to 2002. Students have gone on perform with Cabrillo Stage, the Cabrillo Music Festival and Actor’s Theatre, along with other Bay Area and national groups.

“It has always been the nurturer of artists who then go out into the community,” Chandler said. “Cabrillo has always been kind of the mothership. It’s been the nurturing ground for all the arts.”

The new complex encourages collaborations between music, drama and dance, as well as the myriad visual arts, Martinez said. “The window is wide open.”

The space has already inspired Cabrillo Stage to expand to a winter show. In December, they will offer Scrooge on the new stage.

“Collectively, the people at Cabrillo and the community have done something great here,” Martinez said.

Upcoming performances at the complex include Cabrillo Chorale performing Handel’s Messiah (October 18), Russian pianist Alexander Romanovsky (October 24) and Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” (November 6 – 21).

Cabrillo College Visual and Performing Arts Complex Open House. 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, October 10. Cabrillo College, Cabrillo College Drive. (831) 479-6146.