Celebration Planned For Chris Walsh PAC In Framingham

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham will christen a new school performing arts center on Friday named after a longtime state representative who died in 2018 after a cancer diagnosis.

The Chris Walsh Performing Arts Center is located at the new Fuller Middle School, which opened at the beginning of this school year. The inaugural event will include musical performances by Superintendent Robert Tremblay and Jonathan Levi, the architect who largely designed the new school.

Walsh, a Rhode Island School of Design-trained architect, also helped design the new Fuller building, and sat on the Fuller School Building Committee. School Board Chair Adam Freudberg in the spring moved to name the PAC after Walsh.

Walsh was first elected to the 6th Middlesex state House seat in 2010. He died in 2018 about a year after being diagnosed with lymphoma. State Rep. Maria Robinson won the seat in 2018, but will most likely soon step down to take a job in the Biden administration.

The Chris Walsh Performing Arts Center celebration begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Due to the pandemic, the auditorium will only be at 50 percent capacity during the performances.