The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Extension sets up big expansion
The Crested Butte Center for the Arts will pay $27 between now and 2037 for the lease on the building at the entrance to town. By then, it is expected that the Center will be more than four times larger and house a wide conglomerate of local arts organizations.
Members of the Center for the Arts board accompanied executive director Jenny Birnie to the Crested Butte Town Council meeting Monday to ask for a lease extension under the current terms. They received a thumbs-up from the council for another 25-year lease at $1 a year. The current lease ends in May 2012 but the board wanted the okay now to help with fundraising for expansion.
“We are really excited about where the Center is going to go,” said Birnie. “Bringing the arts groups together in town is really important. We want Crested Butte to be an arts destination and in that mode we have come to agreements with the Trailhead Museum and the Crested Butte School of Dance. The Center is a vibrant place in the community.”
Birnie outlined various contributions the Center for the Arts makes to the town, from helping to generate millions of dollars in revenues, to putting on the popular summer Alpenglow concerts, to providing an affordable venue for local organizations.
“Nearly 21,000 people came to various events at the Center last year,” Birnie explained. “As the community has struggled, people keep coming back to the Center.”
Mayor Leah Williams applauded the “unique” relationship between the Center for the Arts and the town. “The town owns the building but private funds were raised to make the improvements and make it a center for the arts. The Center takes care of the building and makes the repairs like [the building] is owned by the Center.”
Birnie confirmed that $16,000 in renovations were done this past spring on the building. She touted the new and improved bathrooms. “They are really cool,” she promised.
Councilperson Jim Schmidt stated he thought it appropriate to continue the lease. The rest of the council members agreed. They will look at the lease and will probably approve it at the next meeting.
Birnie did outline the potential expansion of the Center for the Arts. She said the board was soliciting comments on a very preliminary plan. That proposal will be displayed at Alpenglow concerts and in the lobby of the center. “Nothing is etched in stone,” she said, “but we want feedback on this preliminary concept.”
She predicted the expansion would cost between eight and ten million dollars and be a three- to five-year project. While seating in the 215-seat auditorium would not be increased, the building itself would grow to 32,500 square feet from about 7,000 square feet. It would be energy-efficient and include the Trailhead Museum, new dance spaces, classrooms, a boardroom and multi-purpose space to accommodate small conferences.
Fundraising for the expansion is set to begin immediately.
The Center is hosting an open house on Tuesday, July 6 from 6-7:30 p.m. to gather feedback on their expansion plans.
