Tag: Rodney Bohner CPW Community Planning Workshop Oregon Historic Theatres

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.

 

What’s Historic?

Posted on by Julia Havens

Salem-Grand-Theatre
The Oregon Historic Theaters Project is spearheading a statewide initiative. Together with Oregon Main Street, Travel Oregon, and Pacific Power, the goal is to inventory, survey, and develop strategies to save and utilize threatened, historic Oregon theaters. My team and I have started the project by inventorying Oregon’s historic theaters. One question as we set out though, “What makes a theater historic?”

Well, way back in 1966, the United States Congress felt strongly enough about the preservation of historic resources to merit the creation of policy directing the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service, to increase nationwide preservation efforts.

Part of this new policy included the authorization to maintain the National Register of Historic Places. This list would include buildings, structures, and significant objects, designated as significant through a nomination process. The basic criteria consists of integrity, significance, and age. Integrity and significance would require at least another article to dissect. Age, however, would appear to be pretty straightforward.

Oregon-Historic-TheatresThe general rule of thumb for historic is at least 50 years old. But why 50?

The story goes, that when the architects of the National Register were considering their requirements, they decided that maintaining the integrity of such a list was essential. It was recognized that popular culture might sway in favor of a property that, in a few years, might lose its significance. To allow for proper study and impartiality, a retrospective two generations would allow enough time to fully understand the historic context.

So the answer to ‘why 50?’ To allow two generations of history to run its course — establishing authentic context.Two generations, twenty-five years each, or 50 years total.

However, there have been properties listed within the 50 year time span due to their exceptional importance. It seems there are always exceptions to the rule. The World Trade Center site, for example, was recently added to the Register.

So although it’s not carved in stone, the 50 year old mark was the starting point for our investigation. As of press time, our list is up to 103 theaters! That’s a lot of history.

Please stay tuned with the team blog for updates on our Oregon Historic Theater Project.

 Reference: United States Cong. Senate. “National Historic Preservation Act.” S 102-575. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print

Rodney Bohner CPW Community Planning Workshop Oregon Historic TheatresAbout the Author: 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.