HomeMy WebLinkAbout19901201_Tribune Article-sectional view. The building will tower above the existing Cal Poly Theatre.
Whose name
will adorn
new center?
0 ONE will say whose
name will grace the $23
million performing arts
center slated to open on the Cal
Poly campus in 1994.
"I think we'll let the community
speculate on that," said Warren
Sinsheimer, president of the
Foundation for the Performing
Arts Center.
But at least two names —
Cohan and Hartman — are almost
certainly in the running.
Christopher Cohan, president
and founder of Sonic Communica-
tions, gave $2.1 million to the
foundation in February. It was the
largest donation ever received by
the 4-year-old foundation, which is
collecting funds to build the 1,500-
seat center.
John and Barbara Hartman
were the first community mem-
bers to make a significant contri-
bution to the foundation's cause.
They donated $100,000 in 1986.
Three years later, they raised that
by $500,000. That donation, they
stipulated, was to procure a large
pipe organ for the arts center.
"It's an enduring gift that people
can enjoy," John Hartman told the
Tribune in December 1989. Hart-
man led the Foundation for the
Performing Arts' campaign cabi-
net; which coordinates the Foun-
dation's fundraising efforts.
The Hartmans died unexpected-
ly in January of this year while
traveling in Paris.
Warren Sinsheimer
... FPAC president
R. Lawrence Kirkegaard
... center acoustician
Jim Jamieson
... FPAC executive director
... theater designer
ORE THAN 30 years
of struggle have gone
into the push for a
performing arts center
in San Luis Obispo.
The original concept, born in the
early 1960s, was for a community
auditorium and convention centerat
Laguna Lake. The price tag? $1.5
million. Over the years, that concept
changed and grew. And, with inflation
and changing plans, so did the cost
estimates.
During the 1970s, the multi -use
concept was dropped. The proposed
1,200-seat center would be solely for
the performing arts, would be located
at Cuesta College, and would cost $8
million.
The 1980s saw a brief push for a
performing arts complex of three
buildings at a cost of $18 million. The
current project, set to open in 1994, is
projected to cost $23 million for one
93,000-square-foot facility, and about
$8.5 million for an accompanying
parking structure.
But it wasn't until 1986, when Cal
Poly joined forces with the city of San
Luis Obispo and a non-profit fund-
raising group, that a partnership
strong enough to bring the center so
close to groundbreaking was formed.
"From my perspective, the most
important factor in this is that we are
in it together," Mayor Ron Dunin
about the partnership.
Links between performing art cen-
ter proponents, the community, and
city government have not always been
so strong.
The 1960s must have been a
-frustrating 10 years for Jack and
Lucille Fabbri, who headed the Civic
and Fine Arts Association, an organi-
zation dedicated to bringing a per-
forming arts center to the county.
In the fall of 1965, San Luis Obispo
County voters nixed a proposal to
create a way to fund a community
convention and performing arts cen-
ter.
More than a decade later, the
Fabbris were still hard at work on
plans for a center, Telegram -Tribune
articles show.
But despite the enthusiastic coop-
eration of Cuesta College, which
donated 10 acres of land for a center,
and the city, which pledged support,
county backing was not forthcoming
in the'70s, and the project died.
The 180s were the most significant
years for the performing arts center
drive, mainly because the campaign
finally won the city council's strong
support.
Former Mayor Melanie Billig firmly
backed the concept and urged the
City Council to find a downtown site
for the center.
In June of 1980, Cal Poly President
Warren Baker was named to the
board of directors of the San Luis
Obispo County Foundation, a non-
profit group raising funds for a
performing arts center, and the seed
was planted for Cal Poly's participa-
tion in the current plan.
Studies were done to assess the
need for a performing arts facility.
Hall, Goodhue, Haisley & Barker,
architecture . and. urban designers,
working at the city's behest, identified
63 potential user groups, and estimat-
ed that in its second year of operation,
a large center for the performing arts
could draw 83,000 patrons.
But community financial support
had to be raised, and in 1986, the
Foundation for the Performing Arts
Center was formed. It got right to
work on ways to raise money for the
project, organizing a First Wave fund
drive that has so far netted $642,500 in
pledges, of which $334,970 has been
collected.
In June of 1986, consultants and
representatives of the community's
major arts groups agreed that Poly
would be the best place to put a
performing arts center, and for first
time in more than 25 years, a
consensus was reached on where and
how to build the center.
In August of 1986, representatives
of FPAC, the city and Cal Poly met
and drafted a letter of intent to work
,together on the center.
The partnership has been credited
time and again with being the key
piece in the puzzle of how — finally —
to see a performing arts project
through to grand opening.
San Luis Obispo (Calif.)TELEGAM-TRIBUNE SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1990 PAGE 15