The Center Theatre
Community support is being sought for renovation and conversion of the old Center Theatre in the Centerville district of Fremont as a venue for theatre and social activities serving the Fremont community. Although this 600 seat theatre can not serve as the full-fledged Cultural Arts Center that Fremont so badly needs, restoring it to a healthy life in the community will provide a much needed facility for smaller performing groups.
The theatre is located on Fremont Blvd. in the Centerville Redevelopment area. The City of Fremont funded a $25,000 grant to retain VenueTech, a firm specializing in providing resources to communities renovating older theatres, to do a business case study. Day-to-day oversight of this study has been done by the citizen group 'Save the Center', which includes representation from the Fremont Cultural Arts Council Board, with the FCAC disbursing the grant money to VenueTech as the study met completion milestones.
The exhaustive process of determining whether restoration and operation of the theater as a performance and film venue included an analysis of the theater facility, substantial community input,and a great deal of financial calculation. It was concluded that the theater can serve as the centerpiece of redevelopment in Centerville, and that community interest in and need for a theater facility of this type is high. It's a given that single screen/small stage theaters are rarely able to carry their own weight financially, and that on-going funding will be required.
The business plan was presented to the Fremont City Council sitting as the Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday, March 25th, 2003. Although positive about the benefits of having this theater as a community asset, the city is not in the position to assist financially at this time.
The 'Save the Center' committee contact is Dirk Lorenz, who can be reached at 510.681.1136. Fremont Cultural Arts Council board members Margaret Thornberry and Julie Gilson are FCAC liaisons for the Center Theatre effort.
For up-to-date news about the Center Theater, visit their website at www.centertheater.org.