Half-way there! That’s the word from two separate fundraising efforts counting on private funding to get over the finish line.
The Plaza Theatre will open in December, and the lineup was announced this week with tickets on sale today (Feb. 21). Lily Tomlin, one of the theatre’s financial supporters, will open the season.
J.R. Roberts quipped to a Modernism Week audience Thursday that he had a very special offer just for them: “For $10 million, your name can appear here”, as he showed a photo of the sign at the top of the Palm Canyon Drive landmark. It’s no joke: costs were higher than anticipated, but the result will be a magnificent rebirth of a venue that helped put Palm Springs on the map.
Jim Cook took the audience through a multimedia presentation that deserves to be seen by everyone. With rare footage, interviews and period photos, the Plaza Theatre’s history came to life in a new way. (Side note: Radio played an important part of that history as the stars of the day broadcast live from the Plaza and touted our city’s attributes to a national audience. Today, we at KGAY reach a worldwide audience with our streaming and continue to be a beacon for tourism.)
Philanthropist Brad Prescott has put down a $1 million matching donation. With the impending opening, it’s a good time to donate.
Not to be overshadowed — and of great importance to our LGBTQ+ communities — the Palm Springs AIDS Memorial is gaining traction as its fundraising efforts head toward the finish line. The memorial is in need of approximately $600,000 in funding to complete the project.
At a presentation to “Salon for the Parched”, Dan Spencer, task force board member, gave a heartfelt history of loss during the AIDS crisis. His personal journey I had not heard before, and it reminds me that the stories from that era are so important.
Artist Phillip K. Smith took us through the history of the project, including the painful times when the first design met with Fox News-driven controversy that forced him to go back to the drawing board. Importantly, what came out of the kerfuffle, according to Smith, was the realization that this was a memorial and not a monument. That changed his perspective and allowed today’s stellar design to emerge and win approval.
I look forward to next Modernism Week when we’ll be able to step inside The Plaza Theatre and hear news that the AIDS Memorial is almost ready for unveiling!
