ARTS & CULTURE
“Exploratorium gets $90 million to prep for move.” By David Perlman. San Francisco Chronicle. March 9, 2010. The Exploratorium, San Francisco’s innovative hands-on science museum in the Marina, has received two anonymous gifts totaling $90 million to help prepare Piers 15 and 17 along the city’s waterfront as its permanent new home. The gifts from prominent leaders in the Bay Area’s high-tech industry are conditioned on the museum raising an additional $40 million from other donors, officials said. The joint gifts are the largest commitment to the museum since it was founded in 1969, said George W. Cogan, chairman of the Exploratorium’s board of directors. They will help build the new site at the piers and also expand the museum’s innovative education programs, he said. “Our donors believe strongly that the need for international competitiveness in science and technology begins with enthusiasm for science among the nation’s young,” Cogan said.
“Public Theater renovating, raising money.” By Miriam Kreinin Souccar. Crain’s New York. March 9, 2010. The Public Theater broke ground Tuesday on a major renovation of its building and announced a $35 million capital campaign. The renovation will completely remodel the public spaces of the theater’s home at 425 Lafayette St. Plans include a refurbished and expanded lobby, a restoration of the building’s historic façade, a new lounge, and other improvements. The nonprofit theater has already raised $28 million of the $35 million necessary to complete the renovation. The campaign is the first in the organization’s 55-year history. Theater executives said they hoped to reach their goal by the end of 2010.
Related Story:
“Warren Spector Seeks $7 Million for Expanding Public Theater.” Bloomberg.com. March 10, 2010.
“Fisher: New life for the children’s theater.” By Patty Fisher. San Jose Mercury-News. March 9, 2010. The Palo Alto Children’s Theatre was at a low point in January 2009 when Judge Luckey came to town. It was a year after police had shut the place down to investigate possible fraud and embezzlement by the staff. Relations between theater boosters and the city administration were still tense. Pat Briggs, the iconic director, had been fired after 47 years, then rehired as a consultant after police turned up nothing worse than sloppy bookkeeping. She was still fighting with the city over her departure when Luckey, a dynamic actor and children’s theater director from Atlanta, was hired to replace her. Luckey, whose first name comes from the biblical Book of Judges, had a very different vision for the tight-knit, 75-year-old community institution, known for staging established children’s classics. He was determined to build an active arts education institution, offering classes in dance, acting, singing and playwriting for kids from preschool through high school. And he was intent on attracting a broader audience, reflecting the community’s diversity.
“Halls of Fame seen as drain on state finances; AJC Exclusive: Taxpayers still on hook for $2 million in loans on closed Golf Hall of Fame.” By James Salzer. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. March 14, 2010. In the midst of a budget crisis, state government will spend almost $500,000 this year to continue paying off a monument to golf that was never built. Now two Georgia senators want the state to give the 17-acre Golf Hall of Fame property to the city of Augusta for $1, even though state taxpayers will be paying that $500,000 in debt service until April 2015. The 14-year saga of the hall of fame that never got built offers a cautionary tale about the long-term consequences of spending decisions lawmakers make. And it is an example of what some say they can no longer afford to do: fund non-essential programs, entities and attractions that are a drain on state finances. Halls of fame were the rage in the late 1980s and 1990s, when state tax collections were growing every year and locals saw the attractions as tourist magnets.The state funded Georgia halls of fame for music and sports in Macon, and Golf Hall of Fame in Augusta. Other, smaller facilities got money as well. Altogether, the state spent more than $60 million over the course of 15 years on halls of fames and similar facilities.