Tag: Dana Nichols Oregon Historic Theatres CPW

The show must go on

Posted on by Julia Havens

This year, the Community Planning Workshop at the University of Oregon explored its glamorous side with the Oregon Historic Theaters Project. Robert Parker, CPW Director and Project Advisor, along with Aniko Drlik-Muehleck, Project Manager, hit the road with student team members Dana Nichols, Rodney Bohner, John Jackson, and Craig Wiroll to explore these incredible cultural gems that have anchored downtown’s and delighted audiences throughout the state of Oregon for over 50 years.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
CPW undertook a 3-part investigation of historic theaters and their potential to act as economic development catalysts. Phase 1 located theaters across the state that qualified as “historic” (50 years or older).

Phase 2 began in January 2015 with a needs assessment surveys sent to theaters asking operators and owners to explain their business model and describe their needs related to building rehabilitation and maintenance, equipment upgrades, programming, and marketing.

Phase 3 coordinated marketing, where CPW worked with theater operators and owners along with regional tourism agencies to explore marketing strategies and link theater professionals with Oregon’s tourism industry to help theaters capitalize on their historic and entertainment value.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
This project comes at a particularly critical moment for downtown theaters. The rising cost of maintenance and operation has dealt a hefty financial blow and forced many theaters to close their doors. Movie theaters, for example, face $50,000 minimum to upgrade to digital projection systems. In a town with less than 3000 people, how can a theater afford such an investment? As it turns out, not too many as you will see by the statistics and theatre fans in this video documenting the Oregon Historic Theatres project.

Together with Oregon Main Street, Pacific Power, and Travel Oregon (project partners), CPW hopes this project will build on the energy of grassroots movements across the state and the documentation, needs assessments, and tourism coordination will answer questions and will generate resources so historic theaters can adapt. And as they say in theatre, the show must go on!

Special to curtain call to Craig Wiroll, who took on the CPW video challenge and produced one amazing video that truly captures the story of this project. Thank you Craig.

About the Oregon Historic Theatres Team from left to right:

Aniko Drlik-Muehleck, Dana Nichols, Rodney Bohner, John Jackson, Craig Wiroll

Aniko Drlik-Muehleck, originally from Berkeley, CA, is now a Master of Community and Regional Planning candidate at the University of Oregon and participated in the Community Service Center’s RARE AmeriCorps Program – Resource Assistance for Rural Environments with the City of Pendleton from 2012-2013. 

Craig Wiroll is a journalist and farmer-turned-Master of Public Administration student with high hopes of changing the world. For now, he’s just going to focus on the UO Campus. Craig is also a two-time AmeriCorps alum from Wisconsin, who enjoys public radio, hiking and food. 

Dana Nichols is a first year Community and Regional Planning student who enjoys cooking, gardening, and playing with her cat, Dinkus. Although she is a New Jersey native and could live off their delicious pizza, Dana would much rather be watching a Packer game in Wisconsin or sailing on a boat in Maine. 

John Jackson is a Midwesterner is a first year Community and Regional Planning Masters student at the University of Oregon. Growing up both in Chicago, Illinois and Lincoln, Nebraska, Jackson is an avid geographer who has taken his talents to the Pacific Northwest to study the craft of urban planning and the unique ways of land use, built environment, and transportation that U of O has to offer. 

Rodney Bohner is a concurrent Master’s student in Community and Regional Planning as well as Historic Preservation at the University of Oregon. Originally from Pennsylvania, Rodney has worked on cultural resource projects in the Keystone state as well as Colorado, West Virginia, and Massachusetts.

 

A Lucky Break

Posted on by Julia Havens

Oregon Historis Theatres Community Planning Workshop CPW

The opportunity to work on the Oregon Historic Theater Project with the Community Planning Workshop has inspired me to seek out and visit historic theaters every chance I get.

On a recent trip to Bend, Oregon, fellow teammate, Craig Wiroll, and I stopped by the Tower Theatre, an Art Deco Moderne style theater in the heart of downtown. While taking pictures of the neon marquee at sunset, we noticed a woman sitting at the front desk. We both knew that we had to go inside and ask her a few questions, it was too tempting not to!

We were in luck and found the woman extremely friendly and supportive of our Oregon Historic Theater[i] research project. She encouraged us to explore the space at our leisure and ask as many questions as our little hearts desired. We ventured into the grand theater immediately and, standing on the balcony, were in awe of the grandeur of the sprawling stage and intricate architecture.

THE TOWER THEATRE

Oregon Historic Theatres Community Planning Workshop Grabbing some pamphlets about the renovation and ultimate immaculate restoration of the place, I learned that the Tower Theatre is a historical community icon that the community has supported for decades. Originally constructed in 1940, the Tower Theatre delighted audiences with a wide variety of first-run films and live performances. As years passed, the rise in popularity of multiplex cinemas drove patrons away, forcing the theater to close its doors in 1994. The Tower’s story might have ended here, however a group of concerned citizens rallied to restore the theater to its original glory. Through community donations and support, the building was restored at a cost of $4.2 million and reopened on January 30th, 2004.

The inspiring story continues as we learn that the theater is still run on an enormous amount of financial support from the community. Not only do residents support the theater by volunteering to clean, and usher, and provide concessions, but they also purchase memberships that make up 20% of the theaters operations.

SOMEWHERE TO CALL HOME

The story of the resurrection of the Tower Theatre is an inspiring one, but it is not the only one. What I have discovered through my research is that every theater in Oregon, and in the country, has unique and important story to tell, and I feel that part of our job here at the Community Service Center is to broadcast those stories. Theaters are community assets; they are community treasures. As Tower Theatre Executive Director, Ray Solley, and Board Chairman, Matthew Bowler, observe in the Tower Theatre Foundations Community Report in 2009, “So much more than a building, the Tower Theatre has become a real community gathering place, an embodiment of everything that makes this not just somewhere to live, but somewhere to call home.”

[i] As part of the Community Service Center at the University of Oregon, students in Community Planning Workshop are partnering with Travel Oregon, Pacific Power, and Oregon Main Street to inventory historic theaters across the state, prepare a needs assessment of theaters, and develop marketing strategies to improve cultural heritage tourism.

 

Dana Nichols Community Planning Workshop CPWAbout the Author: Dana Nichols is a first year Community and Regional Planning student who enjoys cooking, gardening, and playing with her cat, Dinkus. Although she is a New Jersey native and could live off their delicious pizza, Dana would much rather be watching a Packer game in Wisconsin or sailing on a boat in Maine.