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SPOTLIGHT
ON THE ARTS - April 2003 by Deanna Mascle The Pride of Paducah
That is only the beginning for the $34-million Four Rivers Center and although expectations run high, no one really knows just how great the effect will be. “The Four Rivers Center will greatly enhance the quality of life for hundreds of thousands in the region,” says Desiree Owen Lyles, executive director. “It will be center for big name entertainment, education, and serve as a gathering place for the entire region. The Center will not just be about presenting classical music and dance. It will present all forms of entertainment from country music to magicians, comedians and many forms of family-oriented performances never before seen in our area due to a lack of the appropriate venues.” The Center will seat 1,800 in the main hall for major presentations and up to 250 for smaller performances in the multi-purpose room that can also be used for a variety of public and private events. The Center will also feature a riverview terrace overlooking a public plaza that provides a pedestrian-friendly green space connecting the Center with other cultural attractions in downtown Paducah. The Four Rivers Center is designed to be used by the public for many types of events. Civic club meetings, public ceremonies, graduations, weddings, fundraisers, broadcasts, dances and dinners are only a few of its proposed uses. According to Lyles, the Center is intended to offer a variety of arts programming for thousands of area residents as well as draw in increased tourism. “Performances will range from symphony concerts to dance, Broadway shows to country music, bluegrass and blues to gospel, folk, and jazz.” The Four Rivers Center will be working toward an integrative approach to building audience participation around the region and is committed to building diversity in programming and its audience. “The Center will also be a frequent destination and resource for the region’s children and students, as well as teachers and parents. Students in western Kentucky, in particular, historically score low on the arts and humanities portion of the state’s mandated annual test,” Lyles says. “The Four Rivers Center will actively partner with school districts around the four-state area to bring educational programming to students and teachers to enhance existing curriculum.” The Center will also provide opportunities for regional arts organizations to enhance programming and services to the community. It will be the permanent home of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra and will actively partner will other local arts groups in assisting them to expand opportunities for artistic growth, education and public service. In addition to its impact on the arts, the Center is expected to have a positive effect on the local economy. “It will be a major new tourist attraction, stimulating continued development in Paducah’s downtown area and increasing sales for retail stores, restaurants and other businesses and attractions,” Lyles says. “The Center will also be used as an effective industrial recruiting tool in the efforts to lure more companies and jobs to the region.” The Four Rivers Center has been a decade in the making. It all began with a 1993 a study by PriceWaterhouse, which concluded that a performing arts center would be an appropriate venue for the market area served by Paducah. The Four Rivers Center Board of Directors was officially formed in 1996 and began to form a strategy for the design and construction of such a facility. Today, the board is comprised of 34 members, with nearly half representing the communities surrounding Paducah. In 1997, a campaign was launched to create an endowment fund to help support the Center’s operations. The campaign raised $9.3 million in cash and pledges, which set the stage for requesting funds for construction from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Center received a total of $20 million in state funds toward construction in the 1998 and 2000 Kentucky General Assemblies. The City of Paducah and McCracken County structured a bond issue of $3 million to support construction. The city also purchased the property needed for the Center’s location and is funding all the site development around the Center, including parking lots. A capital campaign called “Building for the Arts” was launched and to date has raised more than $4 million toward of goal of securing the remaining $8 million needed for construction by the summer of 2003. Construction on the facility began in December 2001 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2003. A grand opening will be held in early 2004. The total project cost, including construction, equipment and professional fees is expected to amount to $34 million. And even before its official opening,
the Four Rivers Center is an impressive accomplishment. “The Four
Rivers Center Board can be proud of its phenomenal success in fund raising
and gaining regional support for this impressive project. The Center
has received the largest amount of state funding for a single community
project in the region’s history. Public officials recognized the
great many benefits the Center will bring to the four-state region.”
Deanna Mascle is a
staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2003, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content is copyright 2003,
Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
After
more than a decade of dreaming, planning, fundraising and construction,
the Four Rivers Center in Paducah is nearing completion with a grand
opening planned in early 2004. Although it is not yet finished, the
Center is already creating an impact on local arts with events such
as performances in connection with Black History Month and the presentation
of Arabian Nights by the Paducah Symphony Orchestra.