HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/15/2022 Item 6a, Holt
Delgado, Adriana
From:Greg Holt <owner@bigskycafe.com>
Sent:Friday,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Fwd: SLO REP Challenge Grant
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
Budget – SLO REP grant
Honorable Mayor Stewart and Councilmembers Christianson, Marx, Pease, and Shoresman:
BigSky Cafe is urging the city council to assist the SLO REP with a matching grant for the construction of a new building.
Creating an even more vibrant "Arts" scene can only make our town a more pleasant and even more inclusive
community.
As a long-time Arts supporter, I cannot see this as anything other than an opportunity to create an even greater
community.
Please, approve SLO REP’s request for a challenge grant. It can only be a long term asset to San Luis Obispo
Cheers
Greg
Greg Holt
Chef/Owner
Big Sky Cafe
1121 Broad Street
San Luis Obispo, Ca. 93401
805-545-5401
fax 805-545-5403
bigskycafe.com
We are Changing our email address. Please be sure to add this new address to your contact list
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jeff Olds <jambaviking@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 11, 2022 at 2:45 PM
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Subject: Fwd: SLO REP Challenge Grant
To: <owner@bigskycafe.com>
Greg:
Thank you for agreeing to write to SLO City Council in support of SLO REP’s challenge grant request.
Hopefully this tip sheet will make it very easy for you to email the Council.
And if you don’t have time to write yourself, or would like extra help, please let us know. We can draft copy
for you to tweak and send as yours.
Send your email between Wednesday Feb. 9 and Sunday Feb. 13 to: emailcouncil@slocity.org
Subject line should say: Budget – SLO REP grant
Any of the following salutations is proper:
Honorable City Council:
Dear City Council:
City Council:
Honorable Mayor Stewart and Councilmembers Christianson, Marx, Pease and Shoresman:
Your email should be:
Brief: Ideally 200 to 250 words.
Specific: Be sure to explicitly “ask” or “urge” or “encourage” the Council to approve SLO REP’s request for a
challenge grant and give a brief reason you support the grant.
Sincere: The more you use your own words, the better. But don’t hesitate to cut and paste a phrase or
sentence from the Benefits List at the end of this email.
Most important: Explicitly ask the Council to approve SLO REP’s grant request.
Dear City Council:
I’m writing in support of SLO REP’s challenge grant request.
SLO REP’s project would (give an example from the Talking Points listed below or give your own reasons for
supporting the project).
Maybe add a personal statement about one of the following:
- How much you enjoy SLO REP shows
- How much you value the ACT educational programming
- How you’ve seen the quality of SLO REP shows improve over the years, and they would only get
better in a new theater.
End your email with an explicit request along the lines of “I ask/urge/encourage you to please approve SLO
REP’s challenge grant” and thank the council for its consideration.
Be sure to include your name and your city.
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BENEFITS LIST
Here are some benefits you might want to cite. Again, just pick one or two, and use your own words.
Helpful CATALYST for downtown: Vibrant downtowns around the world all have a thriving arts scene.
Operating out a new theatre, SLO REP would greatly add to downtown’s vibrancy. Once fully operational, the
new theatre would offer 324 shows a year on 176 dates, generating an economic impact of more than $3
million annually. Conservative projections estimate that the new venue will draw 50,000 patrons downtown
each year, more than 2.5 times SLO REP’s largest annual audience to date.
The City has an unprecedented moment in time to fulfill a long-held vision to establish a bona fide cultural
corridor for a modest investment that will yield a huge return.
A new SLO REP Theatre would help fulfill a central piece of the city’s vision for downtown: This grant would
help the Council achieve one of its Major City Goals for 2021-23 “to engage and expand upon its community
partnerships” with additional focus “on the retention of existing businesses, the recovery of arts and culture,
the vitality of the downtown, and supporting under-served groups and populations."
Affordable Asset: The SLO REP grant request is relatively small in the scheme of city spending. The grant
request is equal to about 1% of the $387 million slated for City Capital Improvement Projects in 2022.
True Public-Private Partnership: Nearly three-fourths of the project will be paid for by the private sector to
construct the theater complex, which will be owned by the City and available to the community for
generations to come.
Educational programming for kids and families: Completion of this project would enable a tripling of
participants in SLO REP’s educational programming within two years. The Academy of Creative Theatre (ACT)
serves children and teenagers 35 weeks a year with after-school activities, summer camps, workshops and
other enriching curriculum not readily available in local schools. In our current facilities, ACT has served 300
students annually regardless of their ability to pay. Since at least 2013, ACT programs have been at capacity
with long waiting lists. We have heard from dozens of parents that ACT gave their children a focus and
purpose that changed the lives of the children and the families.
Multicultural Programming: SLO REP is committed to providing programming and activities that illuminate our
shared humanity. Our planned facilities – stages, rehearsal space and classrooms – will provide much-needed
space for SLO REP and other nonprofits to present multicultural programming and other activities related to
diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI) at very low cost.
Burnish SLO’s reputation: As the City’s consultants (Resonance) have said, a new SLO REP theater will burnish
San Luis Obispo’s reputation as an exciting place to live, work and play. And, as Resonance noted, the new
theatre will help SLO remain strong compared to its competitive cities set, all of which feature attractive small
to medium-scale performance venues.
The time is NOW: The downtown core is undergoing fundamental change. Ensuring that we have a thriving
cultural district will help keep downtown’s transformation on track. SLO REP will be a major anchor. With the
City’s grant, there is no question that SLO REP’s fundraising from private sources will accelerate. The City has
an unprecedented moment in time to fulfill a long-held vision to establish a bona fide cultural corridor for a
modest investment that will yield a huge return.
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