After receiving an $85,800 grant two weeks ago, the Foundation for the Chilkat Center for the Arts has reached its $200,000 fundraising goal for its “Lights, Sound, Action!” upgrades project.
The Murdock Charitable Trust fully funded the foundation’s grant application, adding to the $85,800 the group secured from the Rasmuson Foundation in June.
The “Lights, Sound, Action!” project will replace the theater’s lighting, sound and effects systems, as well as its curtains. It will also replace a sound system in the Chilkat Center lobby and dance studio, said the foundation’s vice president Tara Bicknell.
The Murdock grant includes $30,000 for sound equipment, $2,200 for a portable dance floor to be rolled out on stage for dance performances and $53,500 for lighting equipment, Bicknell said.
The foundation’s board hired local grant writers Cecily Stern and Ann Myren for the project.
Murdock trustees visited Haines in early June to survey the Chilkat Center. Bicknell said program director Jan Kennedy, before leaving Haines, made a comment so flattering Bicknell wrote it down: “I can tell you have a great thing going here. The whole community came out to tell me about the center. What a special place.”
Project director Tod Sebens spearheaded the “Lights, Sound, Action!” program. “I knew it would happen,” Sebens said of securing the grants.
“It feels really good. I feel there are a lot of people who were a big part of this,” he said.
Equipment at the Chilkat Center is so decrepit, Sebens said, that when he called a company to repair the ancient light control board, they laughed at him. “(The improvements) will bring us into the 21st century,” Sebens said.
Work includes repairing the infrared system that amplifies sound for audience members with impaired hearing, an intercom that allows performers offstage to listen to action onstage, and a radio system connecting the light booth, backstage and ticket booth.
Installation of the new equipment will begin in October and continue through the winter, Bicknell said.
“We’ll focus on proper installation of the equipment this winter, asking for help from around the community to get it done,” Bicknell said. “After that, we’ll prioritize our next goals in our strategic plan and also see what opportunities open up with a renewed Chilkat Center. We believe a polished and modern center will create more uses, user groups and great ideas in Haines.”
In addition to the two grants, the foundation has also raised about $30,000 through entertainment events, the “Adopt-a-Seat” program, and donations from other nonprofits including the Haines Arts Council and Lynn Canal Community Players.
The project’s grand total is $204,736, Bicknell said.