Villagers Performing Arts Alliance
Lake / Marion / Sumter
Bringing the Tri-County Dream to Reality

Thank you for visiting the Villagers Performing Arts Alliance Survey Page.  Before completing the survey it is very important that you review the Case Statement Prospectus below.  Once you have read it, please click here to begin the survey.

________________________________________

From Dream to Reality

The Tri-county Community-Based Performing Arts Center

A Public / Private Partnership for Lake, Marion and Sumter Counties

It’s no secret that the tri-county region of Lake, Marion and Sumter counties is one of the fastest growing in Florida.  In 2006 the combined population of these three counties totaled 666,665 residents.  According to Florida Trend’s Economic Yearbook 2007, by the year 2011, this region’s population is expected to exceed 700,000 residents. 

The popular fifty-five-and-older community of The Villages, which covers Lake, Sumter and Marion counties, accounts for  67,000 of this region’s residents, of whom 70% are full-time.  By the year 2010 The Villages population alone is projected to top 100,000 residents.

It’s also a known fact that a main attraction of the Sunshine State is the ideal weather for year-round outdoor activities such as -- boating, fishing, golfing, running, tennis, and walking.

At the same time, opportunities for cultural enrichment, by way of a community based performing arts center, are literally few and far between.  Venues that exist tend to be small and focused only on amateur theatricals. 

A few communities, like Orlando and Sarasota, have a number of such venues.  But these cities are quite distant.  The tri-county region of Lake, Marion and Sumter counties has no performing arts center except for the planned college-based performing arts center at Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg.   It is currently in progress but not yet built.  The estimated cost/goal is $24 million, of which, just $6 million has been identified as on hand or available at present, according to the college website.

Given the absence of a community-based performing arts center in the tri-county region, it was only a matter of time before a dream of one would evolve.  Since the spring of 2006, over 100 volunteers have been meeting and working to prepare a suitable plan that will make the dream of a Tri-county Community Based Performing Arts Center a reality for residents of Lake, Marion and Sumter counties. 

Toward this end, The Villagers Performing Arts Alliance (VPAA) was established as a nonprofit 501-c-3 tax-exempt organization which is recognized by the IRS and registered with the State of Florida.  Their dream is now the vision – to provide a venue for the Performing Arts that continually meets the needs of the communities it serves. The Center’s goals are to:

·     Offer sophisticated, state-of-the-art theatrical experiences for professional performers, arts patrons and students alike.

·     Serve the region’s non-profit arts and cultural organizations by offering space to rehearse and perform, with rental rates appropriate for non-profit budgets.

·     Build a 50,000 square foot building that seats 1,500 and provides a wide range of artistic expression including comedy, dance, music, theater and the visual arts.  Included in the venue would be professional ballet, opera and symphonic events.

·     Raise $20 million in public / private funding to build the tri-county Center

·     Advance the arts and provide cultural enrichment for residents of all ages for generations to come.

·     Provide a lasting legacy of cultural commitment to the communities of the tri-county region.

It’s also no secret that across Florida and the nation, performing arts centers must, out of necessity, partner with local, state and the federal government to make cultural venues possible. For example, the Orlando Performing Arts Center obtained a commitment for public dollars only after they jump-started their project with over $60 million in private gifts and grants.  The VPAA board believes the same kind of commitment – on an appropriate scale -- would be true for this project.

The suggested site for the Center is in or adjacent to The Villages, thus providing easy access to residents and non-residents alike traveling from Lake, Marion and Sumter communities.  Golf cart accessibility would be ideal.  If there is considerable potential financial support from local and state government, as well as gifts and grants from individuals and grant-making foundations, the VPAA believes a suitable location will be forthcoming.  A site committee of the VPAA is at work on this issue. 

          The estimated cost to build the Center’s main building is approximately $17 million.  In addition, funds will be needed to support the envisioned multi-year Capital campaign, cover start-up costs, and endow ongoing operations once the Center is up and running.  Thus, the total estimated cost of making the dream a reality is $20 million.

           Between April and July of 2007, the VPAA has raised over $40,000 from its board of directors, VPAA members and friends in initial seed money to engage technical and professional expertise for the planning phase of the Center, including the cost of this fund raising feasibility study.  In addition, the VPAA has gone through an extensive planning process that has included:  visioning for the center, demographic profiling, strategic planning, building concept/design, competitive analysis, financial (ticket sales) projections, and consideration of business assumptions based on data from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

The next step in this planning process is to test through a feasibility study the potential for launching a Capital campaign.  The VPAA has retained Donovan Management, Inc., a Central Florida consulting firm that assists organizations engaged in philanthropy, to conduct the feasibility study.  

Donovan Management has conducted similar studies over the last twenty-one years for dozens of clients.  Their methodology consists of confidential interviews with a cross section of fifty influential persons (patrons of the arts, government leaders, business executives, philanthropists and executives of grant-making foundations) who have the ability to affect the outcome of their client’s proposed fund-raising goal.  The final study report will be presented later this year to the VPAA board of directors by Donovan Management.  The VPAA board of directors will take this report under advisement before taking further action on the project.

 Your opinion matters!  Thank you in advance for your participation in this study.

The VPAA Board of Directors and Advisors