Upstate Historic Performing Arts Centers Unite to Seek Ongoing State Support to Better Serve Upstate Communities

Upstate Historic Performing Arts Centers Unite to Seek Ongoing State Support to Better Serve Upstate Communities

In a remarkable statewide effort, the 13 downtown historic performing arts centers from Jamestown to Poughkeepsie have come together to form Alive Downtowns! This coalition, having met virtually since the start of the pandemic, is seeking an ongoing $20 million in operating support from the state. Their goal is to encourage New York lawmakers to think of the upstate historic theatres as they do zoos and aquariums and public television statewide - organizations that have great public benefit to the citizens of the state.

Alive Downtowns! members are Bardavon 1896 Opera House (Poughkeepsie), Clemens Center (Elmira), Palace Performing Arts Center (Albany), Proctors Collaborative (Schenectady, Albany, Saratoga), The Reg Lenna Center for the Arts (Jamestown), Rochester Broadway Theatre League’s Auditorium Theatre (Rochester), Shea's Performing Arts Center (Buffalo), The Smith Center for the Arts (Geneva), Stanley Theatre (Utica), State Theatre of Ithaca, Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and Ulster Performing Arts Center (Kingston).

Combined, these facilities have an average age of nearly 100 years and have been keystones to their respective downtowns for all those years. They serve over 5 million