MARYSVILLE — The people behind the Red Curtain Arts Center had thought they’d found a permanent home.
That’s no longer the case, after the group failed to raise enough money to buy the building it had been renting from Dunn Lumber Co.
“We’re on a month-to-month rental right now,” said Beckye Randall, board member for the nonprofit Red Curtain Foundation.
“We do still consider this our home, but obviously that can be gone at any time,” Randall said.
Red Curtain puts on arts classes and performances, and also rents out the space to other groups. It’s the only facility of its kind in Marysville.
The foundation successfully raised $27,000 in an online campaign in early 2014 to bring the former storefront at 1410 Grove St, up to code so it could open to the public.
They had hoped to have had a longer run.
In December, Dunn Lumber notified the group that it would be putting the building on the market when the lease expired Feb. 1.
Dunn gave the group an opportunity to buy it for $1 million, well below its appraised value of $2.6 million, but Red Curtain had to come up with $120,000 to make the down payment.
The group raised $70,000 from business and community groups, then turned again to an online fundraiser to try to raise the next $50,000.
The online fundraiser only made about $8,700. Another $3,200 in donations came in through off-line channels, Randall said.
Dunn is letting the arts center remain until the building is sold, which helps, but also makes it difficult to program any events over the longer term.
The center’s production of Agatha Christie’s “Spider’s Web” is still on for its Feb. 20-March 1 run, but beyond that, it gets murky, Randall said.
Red Curtain has in the past run events at various locations around Everett and Marysville, but will now need to find space for events it had hoped to host. A summer theater program for students ages 10-16 will likely need to be relocated, she said.
“That’s a three-week daytime program, so we’re definitely looking for space that we can guarantee,” she said.
Scheduled classes will likewise continue at the center, until further notice.
Some donations continue to trickle in, even after the deadline imposed by their landlords had passed. The money raised so far will either become seed capital for another campaign or be used to find another home, Randall said.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
