| 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.
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