In eight weeks, Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre was able to raise $100,000 to unlock a state grant to bring 120 LED stage lights, moving fixtures, and a full-color rig to its century-old stage.
Executive Director Andrew Driscoll said more than 150 donors helped meet the Orpheum’s match for the tourism grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. He said in mid-June, two donors with deep ties to the Orpheum stepped up with a major gift to push the “Orpheum in a New Light” campaign over the finish line.
“They committed a very, very substantial gift to us, which not only pushed us over that match threshold, but it kickstarted our second phase of this campaign,” Driscoll said of the gift from David and Marie Volkers.
The payoff is a stage that will look fundamentally different for both the Orpheum’s lineup of shows and local partners who use the theater for their productions. Driscoll said the Orpheum currently has six LED lights that can create color washes during a show.
“When we integrate these lights that we’re in the process of purchasing, we're going to have 120 light fixtures that are all going to have that same ability,” he said. “It’s such a benefit to the performance, and in a sense, raising the technical capabilities that each of these shows are able to give to their audience as well.”
Installation of the new lighting system is underway and expected to be completed when the Orpheum kicks off its season of touring shows in September. Tickets for the first half of the Orpheum Theatre Presents season went on sale this week.
That includes eight shows, from tribute bands and a 1960s throwback holiday performance to Elmo’s Got the Moves, a new Sesame Street Live show.
Driscoll said the new lighting system is already influencing what shows the Orpheum can bring to the community. He said the theater would not have been able to book Sesame Street Live if they did not receive the grant and meet the match, because they would have had to rent equipment.
“The cost would have been so prohibitive that it just would not have financially made sense for us to book the show,” Driscoll said. “So right out of the gate, we have affected how I'm able to look at potential shows to book. And Sesame Street Live is a shining example of family programming that we're excited to bring to Galesburg.”
A concept design study
Driscoll said the generous gift from the Volkers will also help launch a concept design study for the Orpheum.
That study will then form a roadmap for a potential capital campaign to improve the historic theater’s seating, sound, comfort, and accessibility.
Driscoll said the wheelchair accessible seating at the Orpheum is at the front of the venue on the main level. In an emergency, those patrons could be the last to evacuate from the building.
That is one of the core things Driscoll would like to change.
“We would move the accessible seats to the rear of the theater. So as you are entering the main orchestra level, there would be platforming that would allow those accessible seats to be the first ones in and then also the first out,” he said.
In addition, the slope of the theater’s balcony is quite steep.
“The good problem that we're having now is we are now consistently selling shows that need that balcony. As we are finding ourselves in that situation, we need to make the balcony safer,” Driscoll.
But the ultimate wish, Driscoll said, would be a campaign to raise funds for an elevator to make all levels of the Orpheum accessible regardless of patrons’ mobility.
Through July 31, all new donations to the Orpheum will go toward the concept design study, which will be completed by DLR Group.
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