Share this with your friends! Join the BHCA 1. Our goal: to restore the Garman Theater as a Regional Arts Center! We have a historic opportunity to help the community of Bellefonte and the Happy Valley. With the support of our community, as well as from local businesses and foundation grants, we can restore a major cultural landmark and build a cultural organization with lasting significance to the Centre County region. By saving the Garman Theater, we will safeguard our community’s past and build toward its revitalized future. 2. Who we are, and what we are doing: The Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association (BHCA) recently rallied to save the historic Garman Theater, which was damaged by fire in September, 2012. We are a volunteer group of Bellefonte citizens, who are making every effort to restore the Garman as a venue for a regional arts center that will support local performers, education programs, movies, shows, concerts, music workshops, artists-in-residence, and more. The structure is sound; the building can be repaired. The courts have ruled in favor of saving the Garman if the BHCA can put forward, by the end of August 2013, a viable financial plan for rehabilitating the building. With the help of our community, we can save a historical landmark from the wrecking ball and restore it to use as a vibrant cultural space for the community. 3. Our project: Our immediate mission is to stabilize the building site of the Garman theater and, if available, the adjacent hotel Do De as well, which was also severely damaged by fire. First we protect the building, and then we move forward: the next phases of the renovation will involve rehabilitating the interior of the site(s) to house the new Bellefonte Regional Arts Center, whose aim will be to provide the people of Bellefonte, the surrounding region, and visitors alike with: • Educational (especially arts-focused) programming for a broad range of ages and interests. • Professionally produced cultural programming to enrich the lives of Centre County residents and visitors. • A community arts space accessible to all. 4. About the Garman Theater (adapted from the BHCA web site): A keystone of Bellefonte’s cultural and architectural history, the Garman Theater was built in 1890, next to the Garman House (a.k.a. the Hotel Do De). As part of Bellefonte’s bustling 19th century railroad culture, the theater added another attraction to the busy world of fashion and culture. The theater was host to the likes of George Burns and Gracie Allen, Houdini, the Flora Dora Girls, and a myriad of Wild West and one-act shows. In the 1900s it started showing films, first silent and then talking films, but the last movie was shown in 1961. It then became a furniture warehouse for the next 30 years. It was restored in the 1990s as a stage performance center, and then converted back into a movie theater and performance center. In 2006 the rear portion was expanded upwards with guest rooms and suites. That venture did not, unfortunately, meet with success. In September 2012 the neighboring Garman House (Do-De Hotel) was destroyed by fire, and the roof and upper floor of the Opera House were damaged. We want to save this important piece of American culture for future generations, and to restore it to use as a cultural center for the region. 5. What we need now: We are seeking local support from businesses, cultural institutions, and local residents for the immediate phase of this important project, which will make a lasting impact on the lives and hearts of residents and visitors of the Happy Valley for generations to come. We can make a difference! The court has granted the BHCA an additional 60 days (meaning by the end of August, 2013) to prepare a viable financial plan for restoring the Garman Theater. We thus seek pledges to support our efforts to Save the Garman Theater! Join the Friends of the Garman Theater, c/o Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association, P.O. Box 141, Bellefonte, PA 16823 Email us: [email protected] The BHCA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. This means that donors can claim 100% of their donations as a tax exempt gift for IRS purposes, as neither goods nor services were given in exchange for donations. 5. How we will proceed: Renovation plans, in broad strokes: A lot of misinformation has been circulating about the condition of the Garman and the cost to renovate. To clarify: two separate engineering firms have confirmed that the building is structurally sound. The fire had limited direct impact on the Garman; more serious is the water damage due to the building’s failed roof. Parts of the building remain in good condition. While long-term renovation is expensive, it will be conducted in manageable phases, and the earliest hurdles are also the lowest. Renovation will proceed in three broad, overlapping phases: a. Immediately stabilize the building: roof repair and mold remediation. b. Finalize site design and Direction of BRAC. c. Restore the theater and remaining interior space (a multi-phase process), while we continue our capital campaign. 6. Why a Regional Arts Center? Non-profit arts and culture organizations are a 2.5 billion dollar industry in Pennsylvania alone, supporting over 81,000 jobs in the state and generating hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue to state and local governments, as well as to residents. Throughout the US, Arts organizations are an economic boon to small towns, as much as to big cities. A Regional Arts Center in the Garman Theater is good for Bellefonte and Centre County. Our aims are: • To provide education programs for all ages and affordable access to the Arts. • To improve the local economy through additional downtown activity: 1000+ additional visits per week by local and regional residents as well as visitors. • To encourage local entrepreneurial growth through professional development and arts-specific business incubators, including low-cost space to artists and affiliated local and regional organizations. • To partner with existing local business and art initiatives (including the Bellefonte Art Museum and Historic Bellefonte, Inc.) to build on existing cultural events: Arts & Crafts Fair, JazzPA, Victorian Christmas, Bellefonte Cruise, and to pursue additional initiatives. • To creatively use Bellefonte’s cultural resources—architectural as well as historical—as a source of economic development 7. How we will proceed: Financing: Obviously, financing this kind of project requires substantial corporate and private support. Major redevelopment grants and arts foundation grants are available, and we can pursue them once we own the building. Even so, as you may have read in the Centre Daily Times recently (see other links on this page), we’ve received pledges of support even without asking, and we feel confident that we can meet the incremental challenges outlined above. We can make a difference! We are asking individuals and local companies to join the Friends of the Garman by making a pledge to support this important project.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 03:10:20 +0000
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