As part of its public support phase, the Marathon Performing Arts Center has launched a fundraising campaign where individuals can purchase a seat for the new auditorium. Donors will be recognized with an engraved plaque on the seat.
Unfortunately, if you want to be first in line for the project, you’re already too late. The first of the seats have already been purchased by Findlay High School graduate and two-time Tony Award nominee Gavin Creel, who was eager to give the project his support.
“At the center of every great city is a first-rate performing arts space,” Creel wrote in a fundraising brochure. “By helping bring the Hancock County Performing Arts Center to life, you are an integral part of making Findlay, Ohio, a premiere destination for world-class music, theatre and dance to thrive. This is a huge opportunity for the Flag City, and I am so proud that my hometown is making it happen!” Creel said.
While a student in Findlay, Creel participated in numerous musical productions at the former Central Auditorium, most of which has been razed to make way for the new center.
After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in musical theater in 1998, Creel landed a role in a touring production of “Fame” and was later cast as Jimmy Smith in the Broadway revival of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 2002, a role for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for best leading actor in a musical. He received a second Tony nomination as best leading actor in a musical in 2009 for the role of Claude in the Broadway production of “Hair.” He then played the role of Elder Price in a U.S. tour of “The Book of Mormon.”
Creel recently returned to the United States after originating the role of Elder Price in the London production of “The Book of Mormon.” This spring, Creel received a Laurence Olivier Award, Britain’s version of the Tony Award, for best actor in a musical for his London role in the “Book of Mormon.”
The new performing arts center’s auditorium will have 1,000 seats. Anyone contributing $3,000 will get an engraved plaque on one seat; a $5,000 donation is good for plaques on two seats.
“The goal is to name as many of the chairs as we possibly can,” said Sarah Palmer, who, along with Julie Anderson, is coordinating the public phase of the fundraising campaign for the new performing arts center.
The seat campaign is a limited-time offer for a naming opportunity, Palmer said. While donations in any amount will always be accepted for the center, in order to have a plaque on a seat a donation must be made for the entire cost of at least one seat. Several donors can pool a donation for one seat, but the engraving on the plaque is limited to 24 characters.
Payment on a seat pledge can be made in one lump sum or over time, said Palmer. The plaque can hold the donor’s name or be in honor or in memory of someone.
Several corporate sponsors have already been obtained for the center, including Marathon Petroleum Corp., which has not revealed the amount of its donation but won naming rights to the center. Contributions from individuals have also been received, although the seat campaign marks the start of the public appeal.
Between corporate and private donations, the center has reached 84 percent of its $15 million goal.
Palmer said the chair campaign is just the first phase in the public campaign. There will be other opportunities for individuals to donate, including through some fundraising events. The center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2015.
Palmer said she sent Creel an email to ask if he would be interested in leading the seat campaign and said she received an enthusiastic reply.
“Not only did he take an interest, he said, ‘What can I do, how can I help?'” Palmer said. She does not know of any plans for Creel to take to the stage of the new center for a performance, but hopes that he will.
Pledge forms for the seat campaign are available online at findlayforthearts.org and on the Hancock County Performing Arts Center’s Facebook page. Completed forms and donations may be sent to the Hancock County Performing Arts Center, 101 W. Sandusky St., Suite 209, Findlay, OH 45840.
For more information, call 419-423-2787 or send an email to wquanrud@hancockpac.org.
Dwiggins: 419-427-8477 margaretdwiggins@thecourier.com