sept 9 PRCA RODEO

By Nina Culver Current contributor

Spokane Valley Summer Theatre announced last year a capital campaign to raise money for a grand performing arts center in Spokane Valley, but sometimes it doesn’t seem real until the first shovel of dirt is turned. That happened in mid-August and now construction of the threestory, 59,000 square foot facility is proceeding.

Spokane Valley Summer Theatre was formed in 2016, but never had an established home. Performances were sometimes held outside, then moved to theaters at Central Valley High School and University High Schools. “The Central Valley School District has just been a great partner since the beginning,” said Managing Director Marnie Rorholm.

She anticipates that the relationship between the two organizations will continue after the theater company moves out of the high schools, though this time the theater group will be the one offering assistance. “I have a feeling we’ll continue to do resource sharing,” she said.

But now a permanent home that organizers hope will be a benefit to the entire region is rising from a 5-acre site next to the new Tru By Hilton hotel that is near the Spokane River across from the Spokane Valley YMCA and the CenterPlace event center. Idaho Central Credit Union has purchased naming rights for the facility at an undisclosed pricing, making its official name the Idaho Central Spokane Valley Performing Arts Center.

The performing arts center will include a 500-seat main stage, a 200-seat studio theater, space for conservatory classes and a special event space that will accommodate 400. Facilities that have event space that can accommodate groups that large are hard to find in the area, Rorholm said. “It can be for weddings and conferences and anything,” she said. “I really think we can bring some convention and visitor events to Spokane Valley, more so than now.”

She said she hopes the location nestled next to the Spokane River and Discovery Park will become a hub for business activity. CenterPlace is just across the road, as is the hotel. She’s also heard of plans for another hotel to be built a portion of the 80-acre site that is still vacant. “We have five of the 80 acres,” she said. “It probably will change the face of the Valley.”

Organizers originally set out to raise $36 million for the project. That was just recently raised to $48 million based on rising construction costs and labor shortages, said Capital Campaign Manager Georgia Oxford. Oxford said that she has talked to some people who believe the project is a public one and she has been asked when the vote will be to approve the project. However, the project is not a public one. “It is all privately funded,” she said. “We have $18 million so far. It’s going really well. The community is on board and extremely supportive. People are donating at all levels.”

Some large donors have given to the capital campaign, but everyday people are sending in what they can, too, Oxford said. “There are a number of patrons who go to our web site and support this,” she said. “We are just excited the community is playing such a large part in this. Everyone is aware it’s a legacy project.”

There are still permanent naming rights available for donors who are interested, Oxford said, including for the main stage, the studio theater and the event space. “There’s quite a few,” she said.

The project might never have come to be if it wasn’t for SVST founder and executive artistic director Yvonne Johnson, Rorholm said. Someone approached her about helping to build a theater, but Johnson had bigger dreams. She suggested a performing arts center instead, something that had been a longtime dream of hers.

Many people don’t realize that SVST is one of only two professional theater companies in the area, Oxford said, with the

other being the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre. Too often people assume the productions put on by SVST are not professional because performances are held in a school, she said. “Everybody starts to think we’re a high school production, but we’re not.”

The truth is that there just aren’t that many venues in the Spokane area that work well for theater productions, Rorholm said. There are the Bing and the Fox Theater in downtown Spokane, but those venues are better suited for symphony performances and other live music. The Spokane Convention Center has a stage that is excellent for theater, but venue is quite large, she said.

“We just don’t realize how far behind we are in terms of performing arts space,” she said. “What we’re bringing to the market here just doesn’t exist.”

SVST does three productions each summer as well as a Christmas show and a full schedule of summer classes for youth. The classes aren’t just for acting, Rorholm said. There are also classes for lighting, sound, set creating – every part of the theater experience. The new performing arts center will allow those classes to be held year-round. “We can serve hundreds of more students than we are now,” she said.

Rorholm said every effort has been made to make the performing arts center able to accommodate a wide variety of events. “We’re definitely thinking outside of the box and thinking of venue streams other than just ticket sales,” she said. “It’s the perfect spot for us to be located. It’s 20 minutes from downtown and 20 minutes from Coeur d’Alene.”

Overall, the Spokane Valley Summer Theatre has been a success with revenues and attendance increasing each year, not counting the COVID years. “We’ve more than doubled that in seven years,” Rorholm said. “If we can do that in a high school, what can we do in a professional performing arts center?”

This year the theater group performed “The Bridges of Madison County” in June, “Newsies: The Broadway Musical” in July and “Sister Act” in August, the first full season offered since 2019. It was, by all accounts, a huge success, with season ticket sales up 231 percent from 2019, Oxford said.

The theater company hopes to keep that going. This year’s Christmas performance will be “Home for the Holidays: A Big Band Christmas,” but the dates have not yet been set. An announcement on the 2023 summer season will be made soon.

Even now the theater group has a regional impact, which will only be boosted by the new performing arts center. About 30 percent of those coming to the shows were from outside of Spokane County and of those, 14 percent were from out of state. Those visitors helped boost the economy by increasing hotel room stays and restaurant visits.

“We had people staying in Coeur d’Alene, we had people staying downtown,” Oxford said. “Every dollar spent in the performing arts translates to $32 back into the economy.”

The capital campaign is

scheduled to last until the end of 2025. All donations to the non-profit organization are tax deductible. Information on making a donation to the campaign is available at www.svsummertheatre.com.

“We want it to be for the community, but it has to be by the community, too,” Rorholm said. “This is going to be the most technologically capable theater building between Minnesota and Seattle.”

The new performing arts center should be complete in 2024, Oxford said. “We’ll start our summer 2024 season there,” she said. “We are so incredibly excited.”

Photo by Ben Wick Moving the first shovel of dirt at the official groundbreaking for the ICSVPAC building (from left to right) is Capital Campaign Manager Georgia Oxford, Managing Director Marnie Rorholm, Board members Daid and Christina Lynch, Executive Artistic Director Yvonne Johnson,