This Saturday, Ridgefielders will get the opportunity to vote for movies and much much more, right here in the center of Ridgefield. All they have to do is vote YES to Appropriation #9.
It was almost five years ago that a group of Ridgefield
residents first sought to convince
town officials that the auditorium in the old high school should
be given new life as a movie theatre and performing arts center.
It took all of the time that has intervened to get first the
Board of Selectmen to permit the concept to go to referendum and
finally the Board of Finance. (It was in fact, the former First
Selectman's refusal to let residents vote on the auditorium which
motivated Democratic Selectman Barbara Manners to first run for Town office.)
Last year, after the Board of Selectmen supported the idea, the
Board of Finance killed it. This year, a three to two majority
of the Board of Finance passed it on to the voter. Now it is in
residents' hands.
As agreed to between The Friends of the RPAC, Inc., (the 501(c)(3) entity set up to support the arts center) and The Board of Selectmen, the Friends will have to raise $200,000 in PRIVATE FUNDS, before the town makes available an additional $750,000 to restore the auditorium. Once restored, The Friends will operate The Playhouse. All operations of The Playhouse will be privately funded through revenue from activities and programs and private fund raising. Bonding costs for the $750,000 which the town will make available once $200,000 in private funding is raised, averages out to $7.56 a year per household over 15 years.
The auditorium, designed by the firm of Cass Gilbert, which
also designed The U.S.
Supreme Court and the Woolworth building among others, is an
architectural gem with acoustics which far surpass those of most
other CT. performance halls. The auditorium, once the $950,000
has been invested in it, will seat 406 and be usable for movies
and small productions. In subsequent years, as The Playhouse
becomes more successful, private fund raising will pay for
further renovations which will enable The Playhouse to seat 660
and to put on larger scale productions.
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