Meg Lewandowski, a 2016 Fredonia graduate, is the founder and chief executive officer for The Scenic Space.
When walking into a theme park like Six Flags or Disney World, visitors expect to be transported into magical settings that take them far beyond the everyday world.
What makes this journey possible is the immersive scenery — physical environments carefully designed to transport parkgoers to a different place or time, making them feel like they are an active part of an alternate location.
There is a western New York Company at the forefront of the scenic design industry, and it is led by a Fredonia graduate.
The Scenic Space, located on Pleasant Drive in Hamburg, NY, was founded in 2022 by Meg Lewandowski, ’16, who majored in Sculpture at SUNY Fredonia. As the company’s web site notes, The Scenic Space is “driven by all things creative.”
It is a “one stop shop” offering CNC machining, 3D printing, laser engraving and cutting, metal fabrication, woodworking, sculpting and carving, mold making/casting, scenic painting/faux finishes, and CAD and model drawing/rendering to deliver “high-quality custom scenery, signage, displays, and more.”
The Scenic Space was the company that installed the Blumhouse/Scare Zone at Universal Orlando in the fall of 2024.
“We’ve helped create memories for thousands of parkgoers and it’s very special to be a part of that,” said Lewandowski, who serves as chief executive officer for The Scenic Space.
The Universal Orlando creation and installation was the first large-scale project for the Western New York-based company.
“We as a team were collectively proud of it,” Lewandowski said, “and we were able to learn so much from it.”
In addition to creating the large-scale scenic pieces, Lewandowski said the learning process included loading everything into a 16-foot trailer and then making a 25-hour drive straight through to Florida to install it.
For Lewandowski, the Universal Orlando project is a highlight on a journey that began about a decade ago at SUNY Fredonia, where she said she “learned to be a jack of all trades.”
“That made me a very valuable employee, especially in the scenic arts industry,” she said. “I had learned wood working, metal working, sculpture painting and more at Fredonia.”
Lewandowski came to Fredonia as a Film and Video student and took courses in Communication and Theatre. In the end, Sculpture proved to be her true calling.
“Ultimately, I decided I wanted to be building the objects in front of the cameras,” Lewandowski said.
After graduating from Fredonia in 2016, Lewandowski headed to Florida for the Disney College Program and a job in costuming at Disneyland.
“But what that meant was cleaning and repairing gear,” she explained. “That really wasn’t the magic I wanted to be making.”
Instead, Lewandowski was interested in creating the scenic designs and sculptures she saw so many families gathering around for photo opportunities. With this in mind, she went to work as a scenic artist, first at MAD Creative Fabrication and then Sea World, both in Florida.
“I always want to learn more — knowledge is something no one can take away from you,” Lewandowski said. “I continued to expand my skill set with machining and CDC programming and I began making professional connections.”
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which shutdown the scenic parks and slowed work opportunities in general. Lewandowski took the opportunity to reflect on her career and came to a realization.
“I said to myself that I think I have enough knowledge to open my own fabrication shop,” she recalled.
And with family in western New York, Lewandowski said she decided to “bring it back to Buffalo.” Her first step was to accept a position as head fabricator at Buffalo Brew Fabrication, a small shop where she “gained more confidence.”
Then came the big step.
“In 2022, I just fully dove in,” Lewandowski said of the decision to found The Scenic Space.
Fast forward to 2025, and The Scenic Space has grown to a team of eight that has done work for some of the biggest companies in the scenic industry, including Universal, Disney and United Parks (Six Flags and Sea World).
“We’re really on our way,” Lewandowski said. “We’ve had great success on the national level.”
Lewandowski her experiences at Fredonia helped “open doors” along her career path.
“I think about all the opportunities I had at Fredonia,” she said. “I was able to dive in and create. I feel very grateful for all the tools, materials and equipment — and the spaces — that allowed us to learn so freely.”
Above and beyond that, Lewandowski expressed gratitude for the “support and knowledge” of the Fredonia faculty.
“They all taught the courses so well and I truly appreciated the environment they created,” she said.
And when it came time to expand the staff at The Scenic Space, Lewandowski was happy to “circle back” to Fredonia. Jimmy Keller, scenic artist and carpenter; and Alexis Mele, scenic painter and sculptor, are SUNY Fredonia graduates.
Keller earned his B.F.A. in Sculpture and Mele received her B.F.A. in Animation and Painting. While Lewandowski did not know either before hiring them — Keller came via a recommendation from a Fredonia professor, and she met Mele through another Buffalo-based business she worked with — the CEO knew the duo had solid roots.
“I know the quality and skills that come out of Fredonia,” Lewandoski said. “I was fortunate to be able to scoop them up.”
With her company off and running, Lewandowski said one of her goals is to help today’s students “figure out their paths.” The Scenic Space has a program offering both paid and unpaid internships.
“We’re a growing company and can always use extra sets of hands,” she noted. “I’m proud to provide opportunities for other artists to achieve their goals.”
All the while, bigger opportunities keep coming for The Scenic Space continues in 2025.
“We’re currently working on our largest project yet — interactive pieces and scenic elements for the ‘Wild Oasis’ refresh in Busch Gardens Tampa,” Lewandowski said.
And the magic-making continues.
