EDMONDS – It’s a chance to invest in a piece of the city’s future, and a chance to get your name on what planners hope will become an important part of Edmonds history.
Seat sales are underway for those interested in purchasing a theater seat in the new Edmonds Center for the Arts. For $1,000, buyers receive a plaque with up to 60 characters on an orchestra or balcony seat; $2,500 will buy a plaque on a premier box seat.
Project staff are hoping the fund-raiser will bring in about $750,000; all proceeds go toward building the new center, which is scheduled to be finished by 2006. So far, about $12.5 million of the needed $16.5 million has been raised for the project, city staff said.
Naming rights to three of the 740 orchestra and balcony seats have been sold, said Cindi Cruz, executive assistant to the Edmonds community services director.
One of them was sold to 30-year Edmonds residents Dick and Gail Hankinson, who said their purchase was partly to support the project and partly to make their interest in local arts more comfortable.
“We’ve attended so many performances there in bad chairs that we decided if we could do a little something to provide a more comfortable seat for ourselves or someone else then we would,” Gail Hankinson said.
The plaque they purchased will include both of their names, she added.
Another was sold to new Edmonds residents Bill and Judy Lambert. After moving to the area from Ohio in June, the Lamberts said they heard about the project and wanted to help support arts in their new town.
“We very much wanted to support the local community – especially the arts,” Bill Lambert said. “We’ve over the years been very active in attending and supporting the arts in our hometown and thought this was a great opportunity.”
The city has had many inquiries regarding purchasing the old theater seats. Cruz said the old chairs from the former Edmonds High School site will most likely be auctioned off next spring.
For more information about buying a seat at the Edmonds Center for the Arts, call Cindi Cruz at 425-775-7724 or go to www.edmondscenterforthearts.org.
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