Organizers of plans to build a performing arts center at ConVal High School is at the tail end of its latest feasibility study to test the possible reception of a capital campaign to fund the project, said Rob Eichler, board president of the Thornton Wilder Center for the Arts.
Plans for the arts center include a flexible space that would accommodate both a large band concert as well as a small intimate folk concert.
The results of the feasibility study so far show the community is experiencing giving fatigue, Eichler said, and not just in funding large projects such as the soon to start $8 million library building project in Peterborough, but also in terms of volunteer work.
“We have a lot of people supporting multiple boards,” Eichler said. “Many in this community see this community as ‘tapped out.’ We’re watching the library struggle uphill for its last dollar.”
However, the group is undaunted, knowing the benefit to the school, the greater arts community as well as to the economic vitality of the area the performing arts center would have, he said.
“I think the arts do have a positive impact on the economy. … It’s a good investment,” Eichler said. “I think that local retailers understand this. … They get it. When people come, for whatever reason, they will spend dollars in every direction.”
The new venue would be ideal for performances by local organizations such as Monadnock Music and Electric Earth Concerts.
“I believe we lack a hub with concert-quality acoustics,” Eichler said.
The project is the result of the “Fill the Void” grassroots effort that was started to address the need for a performing arts center at ConVal High School and plans to build the arts center through private donations. The center would also support the region’s theatre, music, visual and literary arts scene. There is no start date and construction costs are not set, but would likely be about $8 million.
The plan includes a 17,100 square foot space, with a stage large enough to accommodate an 80-piece concert band and seating for up to 400 people.
“Projects that are this large take a long time to gestate,” Eichler said. “Patience is part of the project and a willingness to stay focused on the goal. There are periods where you have to refocus.”
There was a refocus in January when the proposed center, originally dubbed the Contoocook Valley Visual and Performing Arts Center, was renamed the Thornton Wilder Center for the Arts. Using his name ties the center to the area’s deep ties to the arts, but it was also a marketing move. His name may inspire people to give and based on feedback from a previous feasibility study conducted about two years ago that said the Contoocook Valley Visual and Performing Arts Center was long and confusing and likely to hamper fundraising efforts.
When the board started researching new names for the center and hit on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wilder, who as a frequent MacDowell Colony resident both wrote in Peterborough as well as was inspired by Peterborough and the Monadnock Region as a whole in his work, including his most famous play “Our Town.” He even had a connection to the Peterborough Players, working as an adviser to the theater’s first production of “Our Town” in 1941.
Ongoing fundraising efforts continue with the next Black Fly Story Hour at ConVal High School on Oct. 25. Tickets are on sale online and toadstool bookshop. You can learn more about the project at www.thorntonwildercenterforthearts.org.