COTUIT – With aspirations to expand the Cotuit Center for the Arts campus, the organization has officially kicked off a fundraising campaign for the project, which is expected to come in at a total cost of $38 million.
The project follows the completion of a 7.5 acre art campus after the Center purchased the adjacent gas station and bakery properties at auction in 2017.
“What we unveiled last week at the annual meeting was a campus plan which imagines what the future of the whole campus would like with renderings and it kind of gives everyone context to imagine the new campus,” said Executive Director David Kuehn.
“The gas station is currently being remodeled into what will become a ceramic studio before the end of the year. So, now with the 7.5 acres, we have a plan to expand both the theater side and the educational side, and kind of re-imagine the campus so there’s a community green.”
The expansion has been broken down into two separate operations, the first of which being a $17 million “education village” and adding a backstage, lobby and gallery to the existing theaters on campus.
“It’s basically put into two big chunks, in terms of fundraising. There are two additional phases to complete the plan. What we’re calling Phase 3, since we’ve already completed Phase 2, would be to provide back of theater support that we don’t currently have; it would enlarge the art gallery; a new box office, a catering kitchen that would be a teaching kitchen, and possibly a small café. That phase would also include an eight-classroom educational building,” Kuehn explained.
“We are bursting at the seams with our educational programs and really have no proper classrooms.”
Next, the Center plans to add a brand new, 400 seat theater to the back of the property at an estimated $21 million price tag. The building would also be used for administrative offices.
Kuehn says the community has embraced the Center’s Mission.
To make a contribution to the capital campaign or for more information, contact Kuehn by emailing [email protected].
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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