City invests in theater
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The city of Rogers came to the rescue in order to keep the performing arts in downtown Rogers, Mayor Steve Womack announced last week. He had just completed the paperwork to make the city the owner of the historic Victory Theater.
"Everything we do as leaders is done with an unselfish purpose to create the kind of community that is going to be pleasing to the next generation," Womack told an audience that included children attending a summer theater camp.
The Rogers Little Theater, the amateur theater group that bought and renovated the Victory in 2000, has not been able to pay off the debt on the building, Womack explained, and that made it impossible to expand programming. Last winter the Walton Family Foundation offered a $ 750, 000 matching grant, and the city agreed to pay $ 500, 000 for the theater if it was debt free. When the capitol campaign raised $ 750, 000 to match the Walton money, the papers were signed.
Nothing will change at the Victory, Womack said. The city will lease the building back to the Little Theater group and they will continue to perform there. The only difference is that they will be able to expand programming, Womack said.
Rob Brothers, chairman of the campaign that raised $ 750, 000, had a dual role at the press conference. He also represented the Walton Family Foundation.
"We consider it an investment, not a contribution," Brothers said about the money the foundation has donated in Rogers. Several local groups have benefited from the foundation's fourth "platform. "The foundation wants to enrich northwest Arkansas and the people who embraced the Walton family when they opened their first stores, Brothers said.
A future event will be planned to recognize donors, Dick Barclay, the president of RLT's board of directors, said.
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