Mercer Island Center for the Arts - Concept Document

The Mercer Island Center for the Arts will be a cultural focal point on Mercer Island where Islanders and people from throughout the Puget Sound area gather to converse and create, to celebrate excellence in the lively arts, and to inspire generations of artists, audiences, and students through exceptional live performances, special events, exhibitions, and educational experiences.

A FOCAL POINT FOR THE ARTS Multi-theater venue for plays, dance, concerts, recitals, lectures, films, and all forms of performing art that includes a 350-seat concert hall, 150-seat recital hall, 100-seat theatre lab, studios, classrooms, practice rooms, meeting rooms, and office space.

• Home for Youth Theatre Northwest and the thousands of children it serves.

• Venue for making, exhibiting, and celebrating the visual arts.

• Cultural gathering place for Mercer Island and the region.

• A safe and stimulating place for all generations to come together: children and families, seniors and adults.

• Focal point and economic driver for the Mercer Island Town Center.

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Future Light Rail

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Mercerdale Park

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Town Center

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MICA

WHERE WILL IT BE? A

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MICA will be located on city-owned land adjacent to the northwest corner of Mercerdale Park. It will open out to the park, bringing yearround energy and activity and economic vitality to the Town Center. MICA will provide facility support for the Farmer’s Market, the Summer Celebration, the Mostly Music in the Park series, and other community events.

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NEED AND CHALLENGE After 30 years of successful operation, Youth Theatre Northwest has been displaced from its original home on school district property to make way for a new school. YTN is currently operating out of interim space graciously provided by Emmanuel Episcopal Church. With a long track record as one of the region’s premier educational arts organizations, YTN provides young people ages 3 to 18 with drama education, performing opportunities, and live theater experiences.

Youth Theatre Northwest serves 2,000 children a year and sells nearly 15,000 tickets.

MICA will give Youth Theatre Northwest a beautiful new permanent home and keep the facility filled with life and activity throughout the year. A focal point of Island cultural life, the Mercer Island Center for the Arts will also provide the community with professional performance venues, exhibition spaces, and educational opportunities for a vast array of Island and regional arts organizations, performers and artists.

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DESIGN The proposed concept creates a major community venue with an array of performance and public spaces to provide simultaneous opportunities and experiences for multiple constituencies.

• 350-seat Main Stage will be home to Youth Theatre’s larger shows and the best of regional theater. Dance performances, large concerts, films, lectures, and public meetings will all have a spacious and elegant new venue.

• 150-seat Recital Hall will be acoustically tuned for concerts and recitals, celebrating Mercer Island’s vibrant musical culture and attracting the outstanding performers both regionally and nationally.

• 100-seat Theater Lab will be a highly configurable performance space for Youth Theatre’s smaller shows, in addition to intimate theatrical, dance, and experimental work.

• Beautiful, expansive, glass-fronted lobby and gallery, with a commanding view of Mercerdale Park, will host rotating art exhibits featuring work by Island and regional artists. Receptions, galas and gatherings will fill the space.

• Café and bar.

• Extensive classroom, rehearsal, and studio spaces for music, dance and the visual arts.

These inviting venues will provide a great showcase for theater and dance performances, music recitals, artwork, and band and choir concerts for the young people of the Island. It will give them a safe and welcoming place to learn, grow, and be with their friends.

MICA will host educational opportunities in theater, music, dance, and art with its classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and movement and art studios. It will be home to classes from Youth Theatre Northwest, the Academy of Music Northwest, Music Works Northwest, Musical Mind Studio, The Children’s Dance Conservatory, the Mercer Island Visual Arts League, and others. Also, MICA will provide wonderful activities for seniors as a place for lecture series, demonstrations, readings, and film presentations.

Public space is a critical component of MICA. The facility’s lobby will be open to the public and is designed to be a gallery space for visual arts, with a cafe, and serve as a public “living room” opening to the park. The cafe will invite use of the space. Facilities for catering prep allow the lobby space (and the adjacent Theater Lab) to be used for receptions, galas and community events. The facility will operate year-round, with programming available every month of the year.

Community Programming Main Stage (350 seats)

Youth Theatre Northwest Summerstock Productions YTN Presents Island Youth Ballet Nutcracker Rental programming Music series Lectures & Readings Russian Chamber Music Foundation

Movement/Acting Studio Art Studios

Coval House Roof

Reclaimed, rare wood, Japanese style roof to be up-cycled from nearby project and housed in lobby

Gallery/Exhibition Space

Education/Instruction Spaces

Youth Theatre Northwest Mercer Island Visual Arts League (MIVAL) Musical Mind Studio Music Works Northwest Academy of Music Northwest Island Youth Ballet Rental Programming

Art Galleries/Display Kiosks

Pipe Organ

Pipe Organ Society recitals

Gift Shop Recital Hall (150 seats)

Music Works Northwest Academy of Music Northwest Rental Programming Pipe Organ Society recitals Russian Chamber Music Foundation

Grand Piano

Lobby/Entrance

Cafe/Food service

Theater Lab (100 seats)

Youth Theatre Northwest Conservatory programs Summerstock Productions YTN Presents Rental Programming NF Performance group rental Summer productions in the park

Outdoor Summer Amphitheater Access to Mercerdale Park

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PROGRAMMING MICA will offer a diverse programming schedule that includes all arts disciplines, with an emphasis on performance. As the permanent home for Youth Theatre Northwest, the building will become a regional hub for youth arts education and performance, offering yearround classes, summer camps, and full public productions. Several other leading youth arts organizations, such as Music Works Northwest, the Children’s Dance Conservatory, Russian Chamber Music Foundation, and the Academy of Music Northwest have also expressed interest in residency at MICA. The building will host choir and band concerts, dance recitals, and touring children’s performers.

MICA’s programming will not be limited to youth. The facility will also attract regional and national music organizations, touring plays and dance companies, and all manner of performing artists, raising the profile of Mercer Island as a destination for the arts. Concerts that now play to hundreds in the Mostly Music in the Park series and at Luther Burbank in the summer will have a year-round venue.

MICA will provide activities for seniors, providing a home to lecture series, demonstrations, classes, travelogues, and film presentations. The facility will also be an accessible space for the exhibition of visual arts.

It is envisioned that the lobby and other public areas will be a place of continuously rotating shows of painting, photography, and sculpture.

In our first year of operation, MICA estimates offering the following programming: • Youth Theatre Northwest will present 13 full play productions (2-4 week runs); 30-40 classes for youth; 9 weeks of youth summer arts camps, and 3 Summerstock productions, totaling more than 100 performance days and 1,200 3-hour class sessions annually. A minimum of 2,000 children/youth will be served by educational programming and audience members of all ages will be served by public productions.

• From other venue users: more than 125 public theater/dance/music productions; 1,300 3-hourclasses/class series for youth and/or adults; 6 rotating visual art exhibits in lobby (exhibit days: 300); more than 24 lecture/film series events; and almost 40 fundraisers, meetings, and other community events.

THEATER LAB 100-seat Theater Lab will be a highly configurable performance space

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COMMUNTY FACILITY SUPPORT Facility support for the Farmers Market, Summer Celebration, Mostly Music in the Park series, and other community events.

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MAIN STAGE 350-seat Main Stage will present music, theater, dance, films, lectures and public meetings

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RECITAL HALL 150-seat Recital Hall will be acoustically tuned for chamber music and recitals. The Recital Hall will also feature a pipe organ

TIMELINE

BUDGETING

This project is on a fast track. Wonderful community support and commitment has already allowed MICA to accomplish much in a short period of time. Continued success depends on the timely support of the public sector and the philanthropic community.

MICA’s ambitious plan is to raise the majority of capital funding by early 2016, and have a construction timeline of approximately 12 months.

Total campaign cost including design, permitting, construction and operating reserve will be approximately $20 million. We will be seeking a mix of private, corporate, foundation, and public funds to reach our campaign goal.

We are projecting a grand opening for MICA in 2017.

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LOBBY Glass-fronted lobby and gallery will host rotating art exhibits featuring work by Island and regional artists. Receptions, galas and gatherings will fill the space

GOVERNANCE MICA is a 501(c)(3) organization. Our federal tax ID number is 46-4319988. MICA is registered with Washington State’s Charities Program as required by law, and additional information is available by calling 800-332-4483 or visiting www.sos.wa.gov/charities.

The Board of Directors, which held its inaugural meeting on March 15, 2014, represents a wide array of constituencies and expertise. Board committees will research and address questions and issues as they arise, while maintaining an ongoing dialog with all stakeholder organizations.

BOARD John Gordon Hill, Chairman of the Board, President Joshua Rosenstein, Vice President, Assistant Secretary Suzanne Zahniser, Secretary Peter Hutt, Treasurer Dirk van der Burch, Comptroller Anna Gordon, Chair, Advancement Committee Dan Grausz, Executive Committee Ralph Bufano, Director Markus Kunz, Director Pradyumna Misra, Director Ben Pariser, Director Sue Sherwood, Director

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Concept Design June 2014

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Mainstage theater

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Lobby and Art Exhibition space

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Theater Lab

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Balconies

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Support facilities for the Farmer’s Market and outdoor events

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Trail to First Hill

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Art studios

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Cafe and bar

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Classrooms for art, music, theater and dance

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Recital Hall

MICA FIRST FLOOR

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MICA MEZZANINE

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MICA SECOND FLOOR PARKING The site will support parking for disabled and drop off. Street parking can be created by restriping 77th Avenue SE and SE 32nd Street. MICA is in close conversation with local businesses in the Town Center as an economic driver and shared after-hours parking. A shuttle could also be run from the Park and Ride lots on the north side of the Town Center.

MERCER ISLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS

7525 SE 24TH ST. SUITE 180 PO BOX 1702 MERCER ISLAND, WA 98040

206-715-7671 WWW.MERCERISLANDARTS.ORG

info@mercerislandarts.org mercerislandarts.org MercerIslandCenterForTheArts