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• SEPTEMBER 2022
COVER STORY
The Current
PAC groundbreaking in Spokane Valley By Nina Culver
Current contributor
Spokane Valley Summer Theatre announced last year a capital campaign to raise money for a grand performing arts center in Spokane Valley, but sometimes it doesn’t seem real until the first shovel of dirt is turned. That happened in mid-August and now construction of the threestory, 59,000 square foot facility is proceeding. Spokane Valley Summer Theatre was formed in 2016, but never had an established home. Performances were sometimes held outside, then moved to theaters at Central Valley High School and University High Schools. “The Central Valley School District has just been a great partner since the beginning,” said Managing Director Marnie Rorholm. She anticipates that the relationship between the two organizations will continue after the theater company moves out of the high schools, though this time the theater group will be the one offering assistance. “I have a feeling we’ll continue to do resource sharing,” she said. But now a permanent home that organizers hope will be a benefit to the entire region is rising from a 5-acre site next to the new Tru By Hilton hotel that is near the Spokane River across from the Spokane Valley YMCA and the CenterPlace event center. Idaho Central Credit Union has purchased naming rights for the facility at an undisclosed pricing, making its official name the Idaho Central Spokane Valley Performing Arts Center. The performing arts center will include a 500-seat main stage, a 200-seat studio theater, space for conservatory classes and a special event space that will accommodate 400. Facilities that have event space that can accommodate groups that large are hard to find in the area, Rorholm said. “It can be for weddings and conferences and anything,” she said. “I really think we can bring some convention and visitor events to Spokane Valley,
more so than now.” She said she hopes the location nestled next to the Spokane River and Discovery Park will become a hub for business activity. CenterPlace is just across the road, as is the hotel. She’s also heard of plans for another hotel to be built a portion of the 80-acre site that is still vacant. “We have five of the 80 acres,” she said. “It probably will change the face of the Valley.” Organizers originally set out to raise $36 million for the project. That was just recently raised to $48 million based on rising construction costs and labor shortages, said Capital Campaign Manager Georgia Oxford. Oxford said that she has talked to some people who believe the project is a public one and she has been asked when the vote will be to approve the project. However, the project is not a public one. “It is all privately funded,” she said. “We have $18 million so far. It’s going really well. The community is on board and extremely supportive. People are donating at all levels.” Some large donors have given to the capital campaign, but everyday people are sending in what they can, too, Oxford said. “There are a number of patrons who go to our web site and support this,” she said. “We are just excited the community is playing such a large part in this. Everyone is aware it’s a legacy project.” There are still permanent naming rights available for donors who are interested, Oxford said, including for the main stage, the studio theater and the event space. “There’s quite a few,” she said. The project might never have come to be if it wasn’t for SVST founder and executive artistic director Yvonne Johnson, Rorholm said. Someone approached her about helping to build a theater, but Johnson had bigger dreams. She suggested a performing arts center instead, something that had been a longtime dream of hers. Many people don’t realize that SVST is one of only two professional theater companies in the area, Oxford said, with the