What is the Lear Theater?
The Lear is for people of all ages, cultures, and creative interests. While the Lear will be primarily considered a performing arts center, it will be multi-use. The Lear Theater will provide live performances in theatre, dance and music in an intimate setting, as well as, an alternative space for conferences, meetings, lectures, weddings and special events. It will be host to a myriad of quality performances including original works, off-Broadway plays, master classes for all genres, children’s productions and workshops, book readings, and family programming.
Why do we need the Lear Theater?
When completed, the white-columned Lear Theater will add to the renaissance of the downtown river arts corridor as a place of beauty, commerce and festivity. A 299-seat theater is considered an asset in any city for mid-sized productions and it fills a distinct void for a venue of its size as determined by the Reno Arts & Culture Facilities Master Plan. Smaller arts and cultural groups cannot afford the larger and higher priced venues in town. There are also numerous quality productions from regional and national touring performers that are intended for audiences the size of the Lear Theater.
Why should the community care about this project?
The Lear Theater can become a pillar in the downtown arts corridor. It will foster excellence in performing arts, it will give youth a space for creative expression, and it will give our community a performance space option that is smaller and more affordable than the Pioneer Center. It will provide an alternative for business meetings and conferences that can be held somewhere other than a large convention center or a casino. The space is perfect for small conventions, which will bring revenue to our city. According to an impact study done by the Small Business Development Center, at the University of Nevada Reno the Lear Theater will generate over $2 Million in revenue its first year of operation. This project will also preserve a significant historical structure in downtown Reno.
Why not use the Lear Theater as it is, now?
The building was constructed in 1938. Limited use was approved for Lear performances in 2001-2002 to gain attention for the capital campaign, but city code officials determined the Lear was inadequate to house large audiences day after day. The building needs to be brought up to code for ADA accessibility and will include an elevator and wheelchair ramps. The cost of adding the necessary theatre equipment for performances is over $1 Million and upgrading the electrical and mechanical systems alone is another $2.2 Million. There are no short cuts or quick fixes to getting an occupancy permit for the Lear Theater.
Why spend the time and money on a re-design?
The original theater design from 1998 had great theatre spaces included, but did not address some basic facility problems such as: flooding basement, inadequate sight lines for performances and sound-on-sound leakage between program spaces. Then in 2006 the National Park Service informed the Lear Theater that our facility design did not meet the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Properties. Rather than return our federal Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grant, we chose to invest in a new design that would meet both state & federal historical standards. We retained our SAT funding AND became eligible to receive millions in federal funds through tax credits.
Why is it taking so long to raise the money for renovation?
The Lear Theater capital campaign has raised an average of $1 million a year since the campaign began in 1999. During the same time a number of other capital campaigns have been taking place in our community. This pace of fundraising is considered about average for a small non-profit in our area, as well as, for historical structures. With the extensive approval process linked to historical restoration, it is common for the restoration and adaption of historical theatres to take 12 to 15 years to complete.
For the past two years, 2008 and 2009, we have focused on our eligibility for federal funding through both historic and new market tax credits. These efforts were extremely successful as we are eligible for $5 to $6 Million in combined tax credit funding.
Why is it costing $20 Million (from start to finish) to complete the Lear?
In comparison to new construction of theaters this size across the country, this price tag is on target. Newly constructed theaters in this size range cost from $17 to $30 Million. For $20.1 Million, the community will not only preserve a historical downtown asset but will gain a 299-seat, flexible space, auditorium with conversion possibilities for business use; a balcony with fixed seating; a VIP outdoor rooftop lounge; and backstage theatre spaces and theatre equipment necessary for performance groups.
When will the Lear Theater open?
Local fundraising efforts over the next year will help us determine the precise opening date of the Lear Theater. The federal tax credits come from a financial lending institution that require a successful local “match” of funds to be raised before they will contract with the Lear Theater. The amount of local match funds we need to raise is $5.4 Million. Once we have secured 90% ($4.8 Million) we will be ready to start construction and anticipate a 12 to 18 month construction period.
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