At this week's Board of Selectmen's meeting, the big news came from popular selectman Barbara Manners who announced the fundraising effort for the long-awaited Performing Arts Center had passed the goal of $200,000. After the meeting, Mrs. Manners said "The Friends of the Performing Arts Center are thrilled with this accomplishment because it demonstrates the wide-spread support in town for the new center." Even more crucially, the fundraising goal triggers $750,000 in matching funds from the Town. Detailed architectural planning and construction for the Center may begin in the not too distant future.
Mrs. Manners desccribed the breadth of fundraising efforts as one which touched every part of the town. "We received checks for thousands of dollars, we received checks for ten dollars," she said. "We heard from every part of town, from people of widely different backgrounds. In the end, it all worked, and we thank everybody in town who gave anything, no matter how much, for their enthusiastic support."
Highlighted for special thanks were Jane and Howard Turner for their wonderful fundraiser in July which kick-started the fundraising, and to Christine and Philip Lodewick for their party last week which officially put the fund "over the top." The Lodewick effort was particulary notable as, in the finest tradition of the performing arts, "the show went on" even as the Lodewicks suffered a death in their family that morning.
Achieving this goal does not mean the fundraising effort will stop, Mrs. Manners reported. "We mailed to half the town over the summer, and the results were very good. We will be mailing the the rest of the town over the autumn as we work to raise operating expenses." Fundraising will always be an issue because the "Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts," as the center is formally named, will be a self-funding organization, and operate without taxpayer funds.
At the Wednesday night meeting of the Selectmen, Republican Selectman Joe Savino raised his concerns about the operational issues involved in the Arts Center. Savino, the only selectman to vote against the Arts Center, asked about the lease for the old auditorium, building plans, long-term operational funding, and so on. "There are a couple of things that have to come together here," he said, "and to date they haven't." He later went on to add "I just want to make it clear, real clear, that just like a business, before we spend the money, we know what will happen [to the Arts Center]."
The Selectmen appointed a four-person building committee to oversee the renovations to the auditorium. Named to the committee were: Steve Zemo, the well-known ex-selectman and local real estate guru; Don Sturges, the local builder; Jim Kolb, who has years in real estate and construction contract administration; and Benton Delinger, a renovation expert who has worked on several theaters in the past.
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