First Community Walkthrough

A walkthrough with about 20 community members (contractors, downtown business owners, city staff, representatives from other arts organizations, etc.) took place in late August, at which time I revealed my vision of transforming the 1920 building into a venue for professional theater.

It was exciting to discover that the roof and foundation were in good condition and that there are no load bearing interior walls. Large steel trusses span the width of the entire building, which will allow for easier rehabilitation of the space into a theater. It also ensure that the venue can be easily modified for concerts, dinner theater, wedding receptions, business meetings, conferences, and more.

(Above, you can see the facade of the building that faces Main Street or "Old Highway 61" - this would be the main entrance of the theater.)

There was great enthusiasm for the project from everyone in attendance. All the enthusiasm in the world, though, did little to dispel the elephant in the room: "how are we going to pay for this?"

I set to work on writing a business plan. In fact, I wasn't really sure what a business plan was. God bless the internet!