Jasper Arts Commission pushes for Astra purchase
The Jasper Community Arts Commission is pushing for the City of Jasper to purchase the Astra Theatre to be used as a new venue for entertainment in the area.
The commission voted to make a formal request to the Jasper Common Council to purchase the Astra Theatre and they are expected to make that request at the next scheduled meeting on Wednesday, September 17 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at the city hall.
The discussion came up at the Tuesday arts commission meeting as a result of a conversation Jasper Arts Commission President Mike Jones had with Dubois County Community Foundation CEO, Brad Ward, who told Jones that he was open to considering the establishment of an endowment to fund the on-going operations of the theater.
Ward estimates that an endowment of between $700,000 and $1 million could assist maintenance and operations of the theater. The thought being that the endowments would assist in paying the bills while the Jasper Arts Center would manage and book shows for the venue.
The cost to renovate the theater is estimated to be between $750,000 and $1.3 million to make it fully functional, but through business donations of in-kind services the cost to renovate could be reduced. Additionally, through endowments and donations, the cost could be cut substantially.
“The cost structure was about $1.2 million on some renderings. You could really cut that down with in-kind support and reusing some equipment the arts center already has,” Ward said said this morning. “The goal is to make it fully functional. Not to just be a theater that hosts 10 to 12 events a year, but 30 to 40 and that’s going to require a major overhaul.”
The venue could host the existing Backstage series as well as the Actors Community Theatre performances and special events like the Will Read and Sing for Food troupe. Other options include dinner and cabaret theater or country or bluegrass shows. The theater has been rented for weddings in the past and could be offered for similar events in the future.
“We (the community foundation) have interested parties willing to get the Astra up and running again with a partnership with the Jasper Arts Center,” Ward said.
According to Jones, he has some funding lined up to renovate the facility and provide for the future expenses of maintaining it.
During the meeting, Jones asked city attorney Renee Kabrick if the city has the money to make the purchase.
“Are there dollars,” she repeated. “There are dollars. Whether and how those get appropriated, I get no say in.”
According to Jones, Director of Community Development and Planning Darla Blazey had informed him of potential historic preservation grants the commission could pursue to assist in renovating the theater.
Kabrick recommended communicating with the council before the September 17th council meeting to alert them to the fact that the board will come before them to ask about an appropriation of funds to purchase the theater.
After the meeting, Jones said that the decision to pursue the Astra represents a change in direction for the community arts center which had been pursuing renovating and expanding the existing facility next to VUJC.
“The board had a complete 360 from its original hope of expanding the arts facility at its existing location and realized that there’s nothing wrong with moving downtown with the art gallery, moving offices downtown,” Jones said about a vision of an expansion into some of the empty space identified in the Jasper Downtown/Riverfront Master Plan. “And then, the third leg of that stool was what if we had the Astra and we could improve seating and help with the revitalization of downtown, increase the numbers.”
Jones pointed out that the arts center could expand some of the existing programs like the Backstage Series. The Backstage Series has room for about 140 people per show. “If we had the Astra, that’d be closer to 300 people that we could put in there,” Jones said.
Other options include utilizing the Astra for some of the other performances and Jones stated he felt the addition of a classic film series would go well in the downtown venue.
The Astra was most recently the venue for two Will Read and Sing for Food performances on Sunday, May 4th. The special event hosted about 400 people for two shows raising $4,720 for the community foundation’s general fund. According to Ward, the foundation makes various grants from the general fund to support community events and organizations.
The Astra Theatre is currently owned by Jerry and Doris Gutzweiler. It was built in 1937 and was closed in September of 2002.
