Lake Houston Sentinel - News
Kresge to help Lee College fund new theatre arts center
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| Lee College’s new performing arts center will boast new classrooms, rehearsal rooms and a 695-seat recital hall and is scheduled to open in January. The $14.7 million facility is being funded in part by the nonprofit Kresge Foundation and the Baytown community. |
By JOSH HARDWICK
Coming off the heels of an incredibly tumultuous year, officials at Lee College announced Thursday that they have successfully raised the $584,000 needed to complete construction of the college’s new 57,900 square foot performing arts center.
The $14.7 million arts center was to be funded by a 2006 bond election for $12 million, while the college itself was challenged to raise an additional $2.3 million to supply the state-of-the-art facility with lighting, sound systems and other equipment.
Lee staff and administrators had succeeded in raising about two-thirds of the $2.3 million when it contacted the nonprofit Kresge Foundation for aid in February of this year.
Lee would go on to become the first community college to receive an endowment from the Kresge Foundation in the form of a $300,000 challenge grant.
The college’s fundraising efforts were hampered by the untimely arrival of hurricanes Gustav and Ike this summer. Lee buildings suffered shattered windows and roof damage while hundreds of Baytown houses were flooded out.
The struggles of the community weighed heavily on Lee administrators, who did not want to ask for donations from those who had just watched their homes wash away in the storm.
“It had a very negative impact on our fundraising campaign,” said Lee spokesperson Roberta Wright. “We knew that there were so many needs in the community due to Ike and so we didn’t even try to get much money from individuals. It just didn’t seem right to ask.”
Instead, the college received a significant hand from local organizations and businesses, including a $50,000 donation from the Brown Foundation and a special contribution from the family of the late Lisa Urban.
Urban was a well known accountant in the Baytown community who died last fall after battling cancer. The college has decided to name the fine arts center’s foyer in her memory.
These contributions enabled Lee to meet the Kresge Foundation’s challenge, who has since contributed the additional $300,000 needed to finish the project.
When completed in January, the fine arts facility will boast a new 40,000 square foot performance theatre and a wholly renovated McNulty Haddick building featuring classrooms, rehearsal areas and a 695-seat recital hall, making it the only performing arts center of its kind in Eastern Harris County.
The complex will also be the new venue for performances by the Baytown Concert Band, the Baytown Community Chorus and the Baytown Symphony Orchestra. Current fine arts programs are housed in a series of deteriorating buildings whose construction dates back to the 1950’s.
“The arts aren’t just about New York City,” said William Moses, senior program official and leader of Kresge’s Education Team. “With the addition of this wonderful new facility, Lee College will not only provide opportunities for critically needed workforce development, but also serve as a new gateway to the downtown district and encourage Baytown residents to participate in the arts and enjoy local and guest-artist performances in a way they never have before.”
Lee College Interim President Dennis Topper expressed gratitude on behalf of the institution for being the first community college to obtain a Kresge grant, calling their contribution a vital step in modernizing Lee’s fine arts program.
“Without this new center, the college would have to end or severely curtail its performing arts programs,” he said.
A tentative grand opening for the new center has been scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, March 6. For more information about the Kresge Foundation, visit their website at www.kresge.org.
The $14.7 million arts center was to be funded by a 2006 bond election for $12 million, while the college itself was challenged to raise an additional $2.3 million to supply the state-of-the-art facility with lighting, sound systems and other equipment.
Lee staff and administrators had succeeded in raising about two-thirds of the $2.3 million when it contacted the nonprofit Kresge Foundation for aid in February of this year.
Lee would go on to become the first community college to receive an endowment from the Kresge Foundation in the form of a $300,000 challenge grant.
The college’s fundraising efforts were hampered by the untimely arrival of hurricanes Gustav and Ike this summer. Lee buildings suffered shattered windows and roof damage while hundreds of Baytown houses were flooded out.
The struggles of the community weighed heavily on Lee administrators, who did not want to ask for donations from those who had just watched their homes wash away in the storm.
“It had a very negative impact on our fundraising campaign,” said Lee spokesperson Roberta Wright. “We knew that there were so many needs in the community due to Ike and so we didn’t even try to get much money from individuals. It just didn’t seem right to ask.”
Instead, the college received a significant hand from local organizations and businesses, including a $50,000 donation from the Brown Foundation and a special contribution from the family of the late Lisa Urban.
Urban was a well known accountant in the Baytown community who died last fall after battling cancer. The college has decided to name the fine arts center’s foyer in her memory.
These contributions enabled Lee to meet the Kresge Foundation’s challenge, who has since contributed the additional $300,000 needed to finish the project.
When completed in January, the fine arts facility will boast a new 40,000 square foot performance theatre and a wholly renovated McNulty Haddick building featuring classrooms, rehearsal areas and a 695-seat recital hall, making it the only performing arts center of its kind in Eastern Harris County.
The complex will also be the new venue for performances by the Baytown Concert Band, the Baytown Community Chorus and the Baytown Symphony Orchestra. Current fine arts programs are housed in a series of deteriorating buildings whose construction dates back to the 1950’s.
“The arts aren’t just about New York City,” said William Moses, senior program official and leader of Kresge’s Education Team. “With the addition of this wonderful new facility, Lee College will not only provide opportunities for critically needed workforce development, but also serve as a new gateway to the downtown district and encourage Baytown residents to participate in the arts and enjoy local and guest-artist performances in a way they never have before.”
Lee College Interim President Dennis Topper expressed gratitude on behalf of the institution for being the first community college to obtain a Kresge grant, calling their contribution a vital step in modernizing Lee’s fine arts program.
“Without this new center, the college would have to end or severely curtail its performing arts programs,” he said.
A tentative grand opening for the new center has been scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, March 6. For more information about the Kresge Foundation, visit their website at www.kresge.org.
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