Dairy Newsletter | February 2010
Great news for The Dairy’s New Face! The Boulder Planning Board on February 4 unanimously approved a site review that clears the way for completing the adaptive reuse of The Dairy Center for the Arts, our beloved former milk-processing plant, into a state of the art high-tech arts facility.
As you know, plans include a digital cinema theater, already funded by a generous grant from The Boedecker Foundation, and a renovated façade, the New Face of The Dairy, which includes a beautiful glass atrium that will complete the repurposing of our historic building.
The next step will be launching the capital campaign to raise an additional $3 million, half to finish the work now approved and half to endow The Dairy’s future. Work on The Boedecker Theater is expected to begin in the next few months and we hope the theater will be open for business by the end of this year.
This approval represents a major step forward in the evolution of the Dairy. We look forward to beginning the Capital Campaign and with your help will raise the additional funds necessary to create this wonderful community asset.
The planning board took only 20 minutes to discuss and approve the Dairy’s plans. Planning Board member Elise Jones said, “This looks like a really good project and we fully support The Dairy for their contribution to the community.”
Stephen Sparn, longtime friend of The Dairy and architect for the New Face, told the planning board that The Dairy has obtained evening access to additional parking spaces in nearby existing lots to increase the amount of available parking without creating new lots. Most of the need for parking is during evening hours when nearby office buildings are not using their spaces. Another 36 bicycle parking spots will also be added.
In addition, we are looking into the possibility of putting a photovoltaic solar system on the roof of The Dairy. We’ll have bids from a handful of vendors within the next couple of weeks, after which we’ll look at all the data to see if this project makes fiscal and environmental sense.
You’ll find Stephen Sparn’s exciting renderings of the New Face on The Dairy’s web site, www.thedairy.org. If you’d like an e-mail copy of the project booklet explaining the project and donor opportunities, please contact The Dairy.
We are delighted that Sally Martin, former city councilwoman and longtime community leader and consultant, has joined us to direct the Capital Campaign. You’ll be seeing and hearing from her as we join together to make The Dairy an even more exciting place.
Look for an update in this space in our next newsletter!
In other news, Dairy Executive Director Rich Harris and his staff have been busy with their calculators assembling statistics for 2009 on The Dairy’s attendance figures. Here are some highlights:
- An average of 578 people a week attended events at The Dairy during 2009, with total attendance for the year 30,504.
- The average attendance at an event, including all three theaters, for the year was 75. Sold tickets averaged 55 per event for the East Theater, 52 for the Carsen Theater and 127 for the Performance Space.
- Some 41,525 classes with the Boulder Ballet were attended in 2009, 40,300 with Parlando School for the Arts and 8,709 with Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet.
Save the date for our spring gala to celebrate The Dairy! April 24, 2010 7:30 pm
As always, please continue to visit us here for the latest on performances and activities or to donate to The Dairy Center. Contact Robb Neuman, development director, for more information.
Richard Polk
Chair of the Board of Directors