PLATTSBURGH — The Strand Center for the Arts capital campaign, Raise the Roof, has entered the public phase of fundraising.
The Strand’s initiative aims to raise $905,000 for a range of essential infrastructure improvements and repairs in the arts center building located on the corner of Margaret and Brinkerhoff Streets.
The project is designed to aid in the Strand’s commitment to preserving a longstanding cultural hub within the community and safeguard the artistic endeavors of members and guests.
CRUCIAL ELEMENTS
The $905,000 project encompasses the replacement of crucial elements of our facility, including the roof, gutter system, windows, doors and repair of the elevator in the arts center
Megan Charland, Artistic Programming Director at The Strand Center for the Arts, said the center already replaced the boiler system, and the elevator is the next on the list.
The elevator has been out of service since July, and to increase accessibility of the Center, they had to move certain classes and programs downstairs, or upstairs.
So far, they have received $148,000 in public funding from local businesses, organizations and individuals.
The center also received a matching grant of $280,000 from the New York State Council of the Arts. If the Strand raises $280,000 on their own before 2025, they will receive the $280,000 from NYSCA.
“As a non-profit the community is used to us asking for money,” Charland said.
“But a capital campaign is a different beast. These things happen once every 10 years maybe more. The last one we did was for the theater over 10 years ago. These kinds of ‘asks’ are different. Traditionally, donors give more to a campaign than they normally would donate. They know we won’t ask them to donate this much again.”
DONOR LEVELS
Every donor at the $1,000 level or higher, will have their name or logo featured on the permanent donor wall. For $2,500, donors can sponsor a window and have a brass plaque engraved with a name.
Starting at the $5,000 to $10,000 range, donors will receive an original three-to-five-inch clay sculpture from local artist Kailey Maher.
A $25,000 donation will receive a six-inch sculpture; $50,000 an eight-inch sculpture and $100,000 or higher will receive a 12-inch sculpture.
Each level, $25,000 and up, will have the opportunity for naming recognition. A donor’s name or logo will be displayed in the Arts Center spaces and marketing material.
Available opportunities include the artist salon series, admin suite, directors offices and elevator for the $25,000 level; printmaking studio, music studio, sculpture pads, welcome center and visual arts studio for the $50,000 level; ceramics studio for the $100,000 level and the gallery and makerspace for the $250,000 level.
“It’s a fun way to involve the donors and make people feel like they are a part of this when they donate,” Charland said.
BUILDING HISTORY
The building, which is approximately 95 years old, was originally a federal office building and eventually left vacant until around 2009 when the former North Country Cultural Center For the Arts received the deed.
Some of the building’s infrastructure is severely out of date, including an internal gutter system, meaning the rain water captured on the roof must travel through cracked and disintegrating clay piping throughout the walls and ceilings of the building.
“The main scope of the project is filling in the old pipes and replacing them,” Jarrod Olsen, director of operations at the Strand, said.
“Not tearing them out of the walls.”
Many of the building’s 120 windows have not been touched since about the 1950s, according to Olsen. Some frames and window panes are cracking, leading to drafts and leaks.
“The temperatures this year are fluctuating,” Charland said.
“We’ll get snow, then it melts the next week which makes the leaks worse.”
The Strand Center for the Arts previously undertook restorative initiatives for the Strand Theater located directly adjacent to the center on Brinkerhoff Street.
While the Theater is currently on the National Register of Historic Places, their main building is not, but they still must treat it as such, meaning they cannot simply tear walls down to find the problem.
“The Strand Center for the Arts is a really special space in Downtown Plattsburgh. You don’t see a lawn like that anywhere else around here. We have a really inviting and welcoming appearance outside, we need the inside to match it,” Olsen said.
“There needs to be some maintenance and reinvigorating to be the space it needs to be for the community.”