A recent study recommended that the Central Oregon Center for the Arts, a nonprofit with a mission to champion an inclusive, vibrant center for the arts, could build and support a facility with a 1,200-1,500-seat theater, green rooms, a small “black box” stage, rehearsal space and storage for instruments in Central Oregon.
It’s the third effort to build an arts center in the last 30 years. One in the early 2000s was spearheaded by the Bend Performing Arts Center, which also produced a feasibility study like the one COCA commissioned. At that time, the recommendation was similar, with the addition of a midsized theater. That group evenutally refocused its efforts to renovate the Tower Theatre, which would meet the needs of a midsized theater, but before it could return to the project the 2008 financial crash stopped the plan in its tracks.
“It became very clear that the pursuit of both projects at the same time, specifically for raising funds, was not going to happen. We couldn’t do both, because we’d all be going for the same dollars. And so, there was some general agreement at that time that the Tower Theatre renovation project would take priority, and we all supported that effort. Then in the future, we would circle back and pursue something bigger,” said Michael Gesme, the conductor of the Central Oregon Symphony, who was both a member on COCA’s Board and involved in the early 2000s effort to build an arts center.
Gesme said the current effort is trying to pick up where the previous attempt left off. The Arts Consulting Group, a national consulting group specializing in hiring and management in the arts and culture industry, conducted the study. It consisted of stakeholder interviews, three public townhalls and a self-selected online survey that garnered about 300 responses.
“They looked at all the demographics of where we are now and where we’re going to be in the future. They also looked at the benchmark institutions and what they play to, their crowds and their audiences. They really did a huge study on what would be best here in this area in Central Oregon,” said Laura Thompson, president of COCA’s board of directors.
The study weighed the wishes of stakeholders and online survey participants with the market capacity of what a theater of that size could support. Several Bend venues can fulfill the needs of a midsized production, but it’s slimmer pickings for both smaller productions and those in the 1,500-attendee range. The largest venue in Bend, the Hayden Homes Amphitheater, can accommodate 8,000 people, but has limited function outside the warmer months of the year.
“What we’ve learned through the study is that we have lots of stuff in the middle, but we don’t have very much on the smaller side, and we definitely don’t have anything other than Bend High on the larger size,” Gesme said.
The Central Oregon Symphony performs out of Bend Senior High School’s auditorium, which has about 1,400 seats. Despite meeting capacity needs, coordinating an event at Bend High can be challenging. The school has priority over the use of the theater, and its scheduling per school year bars the long-term planning needed to attract high profile artists.
“The people that I work with, that I’m trying to bring in as guests, they would like to be scheduling things at least a year, if not a year and a half to two years, in advance. And that is just impossible,” Gesme said.
The study recommended the larger stage charge $42 per ticket, hosting 30 professional performances and 24 performances rented by people in the community. The black box stage is cheaper and busier, with 24 professional performances, 50 community performances and a ticket price of $22. If the theaters meet capacity goals — 60% for the larger venue and 65% for the smaller one — they’d earn $1.3 million a year. That’s short of the $2.3 million annual budget, which would have to be filled with other fundraising contributions.
“This will still be a nonprofit organization, a 501(c)(3), so we will do fundraising and go out for grants, because we want a lot of programs tied to the Center for the Arts: educational programs and opportunities for education. That’s all going to need funding. And also, that gives us greater opportunities for fundraising when we have those type of programs,” Thompson said. “We will have to continue to do membership opportunities, sponsorship opportunities, annual fundraising drives, and of course, grants and foundations. That’s how we will support that $2.5 million.”
COCA hasn’t figured out where its facility would be placed, but the study recommended a partnership with OSU-Cascades. Thompson said a partnership with OSU-Cascades could invite opportunities with OSU-Corvallis’ arts and culture department and provide opportunities for students to get involved in management and technical roles, but nothing is settled yet.
In 2020 COCA announced plans for a $100 million performance space, but it’s less sure of that figure now that a feasibility study has been conducted. Thompson estimated that costs may be closer to $80 million, but it’s hard to say without a site.
“Once we get the placement, once we get that stake in the ground, then we can build from there. And we’ll have more numbers on how it gets spec’d out. There are so many factors that we’re still pretty early on right now. We haven’t engaged with a construction company or architects,” Thompson said.
COCA’s priorities in the short term are to build the infrastructure of the organization itself. It’s attempting to raise enough money to hire staff that can develop plans for fundraising, strategy, business and communications. Once the infrastructure is in place, COCA will conduct a capital campaign to raise funds to build the center. Thompson said if they’re successful there could be shows playing as soon as 2028.
This article appears in Source Weekly February 2, 2023.
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